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SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY 
AND  PRACTICE  AFTER  1849 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY 

OF  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF  ARTS  AND  LITERATURE 

IN  CANDIDACY  FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

DEPARTMENT  OF  ROMANCE  LANGUAGES  AND  LITERATURES 


BY 

LANDER  MACCLINTOCK 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

1920 


Copyright  1920  By 
The  University  or  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  May  1920 


t^CMAMOE 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chlcagro  Press 

Chlcasro,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 


It  is  the  plan  of  the  following  study  to  survey  and  co-ordinate 
Sainte-Beuve's  theories  and  practice  of  criticism  during  the  latter  part  of 
his  life,  after  his  return  from  Liege  and  his  "conversion"  from  romanti- 
cism. It  is  my  hope  to  continue  somewhat  adequately  the  great  work  of 
Michaut's  Sainte-Beuve  avant  les  lundis. 

The  last  generation  of  students  of  Sainte-Beuve  have  carefully  ex- 
pounded the  scientific  or  naturalistic  features  of  his  work;  but  they  have 
often  neglected  his  aesthetic  and  classical  criticism.  I  have  tried  to 
rectify  the  emphasis  here  and  to  exhibit  the  two  aspects  of  his  work  in 
their  true  proportions. 

I  have  thought  it  well  to  give  the  critic's  ideas  and  practice  in  his 
own  words,  following  his  doctrine  of  significant  quotation.  This  has 
resulted  inevitably  in  a  somewhat  broken  style,  my  phrasing  being 
chiefly  connecting  links  to  the  master's  statements. 

My  illustrations  and  embodiments  of  Sainte-Beuve's  categories, 
descriptions,  and  judgments  are  many,  and  I  hope  representative  and 
comprehensive;  they  cannot  be  exhaustive.  After  gathering  them 
slowly  I  have  read  the  entire  body  of  the  Causeries  and  the  Lundis 
rapidly  and  feel  convinced  that  nothing  can  be  found  there  contradictory 
to  what  is  here  printed — extensions,  corroboration,  and  applications  are 
abundant. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  my 

teachers  in  the  Department  of  Romance  Languages  at  the  University  of 

Chicago,  and  to  offer  my  thanks  especially  to  Professor  Nitze,  under 

whose  stimulating  teaching  and  distinguished  scholarship  I  pursued  my 

doctoral  studies,  to  Professor  Dargan  for  the  benefit  of  his  deep  learning 

and  keen  criticism,  and  to  my  father  and  mother  for  much  help  and 

counsel. 

L.  M. 

Chicago 
May  1920 


433074 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  Scope  of  the  Study:  History  of  the  Subject  .  .  .  .  i 
The  plan  of  the  book  is  to  collect  and  classify  Sainte-Beuve's 
utterances  on  literary  criticism  written  after  1849;  from  a  study  of 
the  Causeries  du  lundi  and  the  Nouveaux  lundis  to  determine  whether 
or  not  he  applied  in  critical  practice  the  principles  he  laid  down  as 
theory — ^Justification  for  selecting  period  1849-69  for  this  study — 
Articles  and  books  which  have  been  important  in  the  treatment  of 
the  later  and  mature  Sainte-Beuve  are  cited  and  the  most  significant 
discussed. 

II.  The  Functions  of  Criticism 8 

Difficulties  of  the  subject,  of  fixing  and  classifying  Sainte- 
Beuve's  thought,  due  to  the  fluidity  of  his  mind  and  the  contra- 
dictory nature  of  his  theories — The  functions  of  criticism  are  to 
seek  the  truth  and  to  destroy  false  ideas;  to  aid  society  morally  and 
aesthetically;  to  aid  the  authors  while  they  are  living,  by  criticism 
and  counsel;  when  they  are  dead,  by  defending  their  fame  and 
spreading  abroad  their  reputation;  to  aid  the  reader  by  telling  him 
what  is  worth  reading  and  exploring  for  him,  by  giving  him  informa- 
tion necessary  to  correct  understanding  of  great  works,  and  by  pre- 
paring his  mind  for  the  reception  of  them;  to  give  expression  to  the 
gift  of  the  critic,  criticism  as  self-expression  and  as  artistic  creation. 

III.  Scientific  Criticism 28 

Sainte-Beuve  beHeved  that  the  criticism  of  taste,  unaided,  was 
nofadequate  to  meet  modern  conditions;  there  must  be  a  criticism 
based  on  scientific  principles.  He  outlines  a  plan  for  such  criticism. 
The  book  is  the  product  of  the  author,  so  that  we  must  study  the 
author  to  understand  the  book.  We  must  study  him  in  his  country, 
his  race,  his  epoch,  his  family,  his  education,  and  his  early  environ- 
ment; at  the  moment  of  his  first  success,  and  at  the  time  of 
his  dissolution;  in  his  disciples  and  literary  descendants,  in  his 
friends,  in  his  enemies,  and  in  his  private  relations.  When  we 
have  thus  attacked  the  subject  from  various  points  of  view  we  must 
attempt  to  sum  up  the  man  in  a  few  words  and  place  him  in  his 
family  of  minds.  (A  discussion  at  this  point  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
master- passion  and  the  family-of-minds  theories  of  Sainte-Beuve.) 
Sainte-Beuve  justifies  this  close  study  of  the  author  on  the  grounds 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

that  we  ought  to  know  whatever  we  can  and  all  we  can,  that  merely 
to  enjoy  the  products  of  the  mind  does  not  satisfy  the  critical  intel- 
ligence. But  the  critic  must  admit  that  when  all  these  facts  are 
known  and  placed  in  their  proper  relation  there  is  yet  something  that 
escapes  analysis  and  can  be  attained  only  through  critical  intuition — 
individual  genius. 

IV.  Aesthetic  Criticism 46 

Once  the  critic  has  explained  an  author  or  a  work  on  scientific 
grounds,  there  arises  the  task  of  estimating  the  individual  work 
itself.  Is  it  good  or  bad  ?  What  is  good  or  bad  in  it  ?  Sainte-Beuve 
believed  in  attempting  a  final  appraisement  of  a  work  or  an  author. 
He  judged  on  the  basis  of  five  criteria:  taste  (his  definition  of  taste), 
truth,  that  is  to  say,  truth  to  life,  tradition  (his  definition  of  tradi- 
tion, his  relations  to  contemporary  intellectual  and  critical  move- 
ments), logic  and  consistency,  morality. 

V.  The  Qualifications  of  the  Critic 69 

Pope  drew  the  portrait  of  Sainte-Beuve's  ideal  critic,  but  the 
latter  supplements  it  with  additional  touches.  The  main  qualifica- 
tions he  asked  for  were:  The  true  critic  is  born  not  made,  and  must 
have  the  critical  instinct.  He  is  not  an  artist  who  has  made  a 
failure,  nor  should  he  be  an  artist  at  all,  for  the  creative  artist 
necessarily  has  predilections  which  prevent  his  delivering  an 
unbiased  judgment.  He  has  a  quick  and  true  perception  and 
appreciation  of  values.  He  has  a  faculty  of "  demi-metamorphosis," 
of  putting  himself  in  another's  place.  He  has  perfect  independence, 
an  ability  to  adjust  himself  to  new  circumstances,  to  varying  sub- 
jects and  aspects  of  subjects.  The  critic  should  have  the  weight 
of  authority  and  the  assurance  to  make  himself  heard.  He  must  be 
in  possession  of  a  wide  field  of  knowledge.  He  is  free  of  all  moral 
and  social  bonds.  Ideally  he  is  absolutely  impartial,  disillusioned, 
free  even  from  patriotic  prejudice — The  critics  whom  Sainte-Beuve 
admired  and  who  influenced  him  most. 

VI.  Precepts  and  ProcedSs 83 

A  gathering  of  loosely  related  principles  connected  with  the 
critical  process:  his  choice  of  subject,  his  preference  for  minor 
authors;  a  definite  time  auspicious  for  the  criticism  of  any  author; 
the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  judging  in  opposition  to  accepted 
opinions  and  canons;  the  critic's  extensive  knowledge  and  wide 
background — ^To  make  a  harmony  of  contemporary  and  previous 
thinking  and  art;  the  ways  of  attacking  a  subject;  with  fixed  ideas, 
with  open  mind;   limitation  and  fixing  of  subject,  author  to  be 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

treated  for  the  right  things  and  for  all  the  right  things;  impartiality, 
a  critical  canon;  the  critic  must  allow  no  idea  or  attitude  to  deceive 
him  in  his  search  for  reality;  the  critic,  like  the  chemist,  at  the 
mercy  of  his  experiment  or  examination,  must  not  change  or 
exaggerate;  "preserving  the  tone"  of  the  book  under  consideration, 
making  the  criticism  as  nearly  as  possible  of  the  same  literary 
atmosphere  as  its  subject;  Sainte-Beuve's  doctrine  of  citations 
from  authors  studied;  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  vocabulary,  two  of  his 
important  epithets  studied,  Aitic  and  Asiatic;  Sainte-Beuve's  ideas 
on  the  function  of  literature,  on  genres,  and  on  style. 

VII.  Sainte-Beuve's  Practice  in  Criticism io8 

A  study  of  the  Causeries  du  lundi  and  the  Nouveaux  lundis  on 
the  basis  of  their  subject-matter,  to  determine  on  what  sort  of 
material  he  laid  most  stress.  Biographical  matter:  the  history  of  an 
individual,  his  character;  historical  matter:  political  history, 
etudes  de  moeurs;  literary  matter:  exposition  of  a  work,  the  pres- 
entation of  another  man's  ideas  and  material;  literary  history, 
critical  discussion  and  judgment  by  Sainte-Beuve  himself;  polemic 
matter,  philosophic  matter  including  aesthetic.  The  results  show 
that  Sainte-Beuve  was  primarily  interested  in  biography  and 
character  studies — Study  of  his  practice,  using  the  outlines  of 
sections  III  and  IV — The  conclusion  is  that  Sainte-Beuve  kept 
the  general  outHnes  and  even  the  details  of  his  formulas  well  in 
mind,  although  he  made  no  formal  or  rigid  application  of  them  and 
varied  his  method  with  the  nature  of  his  material. 

Bibliography 152 

Index 157 


I.    SCOPE  OF  THE  STUDY:  HISTORY  OF  THE 
SUBJECT 

The  plan  of  the  following  treatise  is  twofold:  it  is,  in  the  first  place, 
an  attempt  to  collect  from  the  writing  of  Sainte-Beuve  in  his  third  and 
last  period  those  passages  in  which  he  discusses  the  science  and  art  of 
criticism  and  to  present  them  so  arranged  and  documented  as  to  give  a 
coherent  and,  as  nearly  as  possible,  a  complete  view  of  the  body  of  ideas 
that  seemed  to  him  essential  for  correct  critical  judgments.  One  can 
hardly  promise  that  this  arrangement  will  constitute  a  "critical  method" 
or  that  it  will  take  on  the  formal  outline  of  a  system.  But  it  will  present 
in  natural  connection  the  main  typical  dicta,  the  more  or  less  deliberately 
formulated  rules  of  procedure  which  the  great  critic  enunciated.  The 
plan  of  the  treatise  includes,  in  the  second  place,  a  study  in  Sainte-Beuve's 
own  practice — being  an  attempt  to  discover  whether  or  not,  and  to  what 
extent,  he  applies  his  own  announced  ideas. 

The  third  period  of  Sainte-Beuve's  literary  activity  extends  from 
the  year  1849,  the  year  of  his  return  to  Paris  after  his  year's  professor- 
ship in  the  University  of  Liege,  to  1869,  the  year  of  his  death.  This 
period  is  peculiarly  inviting  to  the  student  of  criticism,  because  it  com- 
prises the  work  of  the  master  after  he  had  passed  through  his  formative 
and  tentative  periods  and  had  reached  the  full  plenitude  of  his  powers. 
Possessed  of  a  native  critical  endowment  which  has  probably  never 
been  equaled,  he  had  passed  through  two  phases  of  critical  activity — 
had  essayed  two  definable  types  of  criticism — and  had  entered,  in  1849, 
that  wonderful  stretch  of  twenty  years  of  whose  achievement  Saintsbury 
says:  "We  shall  certainly  look  in  vain  anywhere  for  such  an  example 
[of  criticism]  in  quality  and  quantity  combined  as  is  presented  by  the 
Causeries  du  lundi  and  the  Nouveaux  lundis.'^^  Guido  Mazzoni,  speak- 
ing to  the  same  effect,  says:  "Tutta  la  serie  dei  Lundis  e  uno  di  quegli 
sforzi  felici  dove  nulla  appare  dello  sforzo;  e  stupenda  raccolta  di  fatti 
e  di  guidizi,  e  forse  il  piii  vario  ed  acuto  studio  che  sia  stata  intrapresa 
deir  anima  umana."^ 

The  two  critical  metamorphoses  through  which  Sainte-Beuve  passes, 
as  well  as  the  third  and  last  stage  at  which  he  arrived,  are  described  by 

^George  Saintsbury,  History  of  Criticism,  III  (1904),  318. 
"  Mazzoni,  Tra  Libri  e  Carti,  p.  379. 


2         SAJNIE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

himself  in  a  well-known  passage  in  the  introduction  to  the  Causeries 
du  lundi: 

Au  Globe  d'abord,  et  ensuite  a  la  Revue  de  Paris,  sous  la  Restauration, 
jeune  et  debutant,  je  fis  de  la  critique  polemique,  volontiers  agressive,  entre- 
prenante  du  moins,  de  la  critique  d'invasion.  Sous  le  regne  de  Louis-Philippe, 
pendant  les  i8  annees  de  ce  regime  d'une  Htterature  sans  initiative  et  plus 
paisible  qu'animee,  j'ai  fait,  principalement  a  la  Revue  des  deux  mondes;  de 
la  critique  plus  neutre,  plus  impartiale,  mais  surtout  analytique,  descriptive, 
et  curieuse.  Cette  critique  pourtant  avait,  comme  telle,  un  defaut:  elle  ne 
concluait  pas.  Les  temps  redevenant  plus  rudes, — j'ai  cm  qu'il  y  avait 
moyen  d'oser  plus,  sans  manquer  aux  convenances,  et  de  dire  enfin  nettement 
ce  qui  me  semblait  la  verite  sur  les  ouvrages  et  sur  les  auteurs.^ 

Here  we  have  his  own  characterization  of  the  period  that  we  are 
concerned  with — ^he  proposes  "  dire  enfin  nettement  ce  qui  me  semblait 
la  verite  sur  les  ouvrages  et  sur  les  auteurs."  He  would  renounce 
polemic  criticism,  he  would  forego  purely  descriptive  criticism,  he  would 
now  seek  the  truth ! 

It  was  in  his  work  on  Chateaubriand  et  son  groupe  litter  aire,  of  1849, 
that  he  inaugurated  his  new  manner  and  established  his  new  aim — the 
attempt  to  find  and  to  express  freely  la  verite — a  manner  and  an  aim 
that  he  did  not  alter  during  the  succeeding  twenty  years,  save  as  he 
achieved  an  ever  greater  freedom  of  thought  and  adopted  an  ever  greater 
freedom  of  expression.  It  is  in  this  volume  that  we  have  the  first 
unmistakable  foreshadowings  of  the  critical  revolution  of  which  Sainte- 
Beuve  was  the  prophet  and  the  leader. 

It  would  seem,  in  view  of  the  general  recognition  by  the  critics  of 
the  three  periods  with  a  radical  change  of  point  of  view  in  each  period, 
and  especially  in  view  of  Sainte-Beuve's  own  statement  outlining  them, 
that  no  further  defense  were  needed  for  the  plan  of  studying  the  third 
period  as  a  separable  unified  field.  And  the  period  shows  an  unbroken 
unity  so  far  as  regards  his  critical  theory.  The  growing  freedom  in  the 
expression  of  his  opinions  may  have  been  due  partly  to  external  condi- 
tions. He  became  more  independent  socially  and  economically;  having 
been  appointed  a  senator  with  a  fairly  good  salary  he  was  not  obliged 
to  write  for  money,  and  having  attained  the  dignity  of  an  officer  of  the 
empire  he  may  have  felt  that  he  was  beyond  the  range  of  personal  spite 
or  professional  revenge.  But  the  unifying  force  that  holds  the  period 
together  is  something  deeper,  more  permanent,  and  more  organic  than 
the  freedom  he  enjoyed  in  expressing  his  opinions.     This  deeper  unifying 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  2. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SUBJECT  3 

force  we  must  try  to  isolate  and  identify.  Levallois  says  that  in  spite 
of  the  wide  variety  of  Sainte-Beuve's  subject-matter,  there  is  a  "secret 
precede  et  un  persistant  instinct"  which  "a  preside  a  I'economie  de 
cette  construction  et  qui  en  a  regie  les  details."^  When  one  comes  from 
a  fresh  and  closely  consecutive  reading  of  the  Causeries  du  lundi  and 
the  Nouveaux  lundis,  he  sees  that  the  unity  running  through  the  two 
series  owes  little  to  any  external  sameness  of  treatment — indeed  there 
seems  to  have  been  almost  a  conscious  avoidance  of  monotony — but  is 
a  matter  of  unity  of  thought  and  point  of  view,  very  broad,  indeed,  and 
very  rich  in  detail,  but  definitely  consistent. 

Another  feature  of  the  period  particularly  enticing  to  the  student 
of  criticism  is  the  fact  that  as  Sainte-Beuve  grew  older  he  displayed 
more  and  more  pride  and  interest  in  his  art;  he  took  his  function  as 
critic  more  seriously;  he  interpreted  it  more  profoundly;  he  philoso- 
phized more  about  it;  and  he  analyzed  its  processes  more  expertly.  To 
be  impressed  with  the  growth  of  his  consciousness  of  his  vocation  as  a 
critic,  one  has  only  to  contrast  the  low  estimate  made  of  the  critic  in 
the  article,  "La  critique  sous  I'Empire"^  written  in  1850,  with  the  lofty 
ideal  of  the  critic,  the  pioneer  of  art,  the  preserver  of  taste,  the  aid  and 
co-worker  of  the  artist,  presented  in  the  last  volume  of  the  Lundis,  in 
an  article  of  1858.-* 

We  are  not  surprised,  then,  to  find  that  the  Nouveaux  lundis  con- 
tain much  more  critical  philosophy  than  the  Causeries  du  lundi;  but 
this  increased  amount  of  theorizing  does  not  represent  a  change 
of  mind — it  is  crystallization.  Sainte-Beuve  was  gradually  clarify- 
ing his  ideas — ^as  an  expert  he  was  generalizing  from  multitudes  of 
specific  instances — and  the  ideas  were  those  that  he  retained  and  upon 
which  he  proceeded  throughout  his  third  period. 

To  collect  and  classify  the  important  and  significant  dicta  that 
Sainte-Beuve  made  about  criticism  and  the  critic  in  this,  his  great  period, 
in  all  moot  and  pivotal  matters  giving  his  own  words;  to  determine 
whether  or  not  he  observed  in  practice  the  principles  he  laid  down  in 
theory — this  is  the  hope  and  plan  of  this  dissertation. 

From  many  points  of  view  there  has  as  yet  been  made  no  adequate 
complete  study  of  the  works  of  Sainte-Beuve.  Most  of  his  critics  do 
not  take  sufficiently  into  account  the  division  of  his  work  into  the  three 

^  Jules  Levallois,  Sainte-Beuve  (1869),  pp.  100  fif. 

^Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  371:  "M.  de  Feletz  et  de  la  critique  litt6raire  sous 
I'empire." 

3  "De  la  tradition  en  litterature,"  ibid.,  XV,  356  ff. 


4         SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

periods;  even  those  who  are  most  aware  of  the  division  do  not  bring 
into  clear  reHef  the  radical  distinctions  between  the  three  sections  of  his 
work.  Many  of  the  studies  are  sketchy  and  merely  literary,  and  there- 
fore, from  the  point  of  view  of  scholarship,  inadequate;  many  of  them 
become  entirely  absorbed  in  the  striking,  as  one  may  say,  the  sen- 
sational aspects  of  Sainte-Beuve's  work  to  the  neglect  of  its  other 
aspects;  many  of  them  present  bodies  of  opinion  which,  however  inter- 
esting and  seemingly  sound,  are  not  accompanied  by  those  citations  and 
quotations  which  would  enable  the  student  to  verify  and  test  them. 

Those  books  which,  because  they  contribute  something  new  and 
characteristic,  have  been  found  most  useful  and  suggestive,  are  con- 
sidered here  in  chronological  order. 

The  article  of  Edmond  Scherer  in  his  £>tiides  critiques  sur  la  literature 
contemporainej^  though  written  as  early  as  1863,  remains  one  of  the 
most  valuable  studies  of  Sainte-Beuve.  But  Scherer's  view  was  neces- 
sarily incomplete,  since  he  wrote  before  the  completion  of  the  critic's 
work.  Besides,  his  treatment  is  not  of  sufficient  length  or  scope  to  call 
for  extensive  analysis  or  comment. 

Jules  Levallois,  in  his  Sainte-Beuve,^  devotes  to  the  Cauteries  du  lundi 
and  the  Nouveaux  lundis  some  twenty-five  pages,  which,  however,  are 
almost  exclusively  taken  up  with  describing,  expounding,  and  criticizing 
the  account  of  Sainte-Beuve's  method  which  he  himself  gives  in  the 
Nouveaux  lundis.^  This  account  is  important,  but  seen  in  the  right 
perspective  is  by  no  means  sufficiently  inclusive  or  profound  to  be  taken, 
as  Levallois  takes  it,  as  the  sole  basis  for  the  discussion  of  Sainte-Beuve's 
method.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  this  famous  passage  Sainte-Beuve  is 
describing  only  one  phase  of  his  thought — that  which  finds  expression 
in  his  naturalistic  criticism — and  Levallois,  apparently  assuming  that 
it  is  an  account  of  the  great  critic's  complete  system,  has  no  great 
difficulty  in  offering  objections  to  it,  finding  faults  in  it.  Many  of 
Levallois'  objections  are  specious  and  would  have  been  modified  by  a 
little  further  reading  in  Sainte-Beuve  himself.  It  should  be  self-evident 
that  no  consideration  of  Sainte-Beuve  can  be  adequate  that  takes  as 
its  text  any  one  statement  of  his  critical  intention,  no  matter  how 
emphatic  and  detailed  the  statement  may  be.  The  passage  that  Leval- 
lois is  content  to  examine  is  interesting  and  important,  but  it  must  be 

*  Edmond  Scherer,  £,ludes  critiques  sur  la  littirature  coniemporaine,  I  (1863),  321. 

2  Levallois,  Sainte-Beuve  (Paris,  1872). 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  i  ff.,  article  on  Chateaubriand. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SUBJECT  5 

supplemented  by  the  examination  of  scores  of  passages,  some  confirma- 
tory and  some  contradictory,  and  must  be  checked  and  balanced  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  critic's  total  thinking. 

Brunetiere,  in  his  ^.volution  de  la  critique^^  is  very  helpful  and  illumi- 
nating and  more  satisfying  in  his  treatment  of  Sainte-Beuve  than  is 
Levallois,  because  he  takes  into  account  the  aesthetic  side  of  the  critic's 
work.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  not  Levallois  only,  but  most  writers  on 
Sainte-Beuve  have  sacrificed  the  aesthetic  side  of  his  work  to  the  natural- 
istic and  scientific  side.  Brunetiere,  however,  makes  too  sharp  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  two  series,  Causeries  du  lundi  and  Nouveaux  lundisj 
when  he  asserts  that  it  was  only  in  the  later  series  that  Sainte-Beuve 
put  forward  final  conclusions,  when  he  again  refused  to  allow  *'que  la 
critique  se  reduisit  a  n'etre  que  I'expression  des  jugements;  ou  des 
gouts  personnels  du  critique."*  This  admission  Sainte-Beuve  did  not 
make  once  during  the  whole  of  his  last  period,  as  is  amply  proved  by 
evidence  offered  in  another  connection  in  this  dissertation. 

Brunetiere  is  sound  in  his  insistence  upon  the  general  unity  of  thought 
holding  the  period  together.  His  treatment  suffers  from  the  misleading 
condensation  inseparable  from  the  handling  of  so  large  a  topic  in  a  few 
pages. 

Emile  Faguet's  account  in  the  Politiques  et  moralistes^  is  also  less 
extensive  than  it  should  be  and  is  not  adequately  documented.  It  is 
a  popular  account  of  Sainte-Beuve,  attempting  to  cover  the  whole  of 
his  work  in  one  article.  Like  all  such  attempts,  it  is  foredoomed  to 
incompleteness  in  the  treatment  of  this  third  period.  Faguet,  in  his 
reaction  against  systematizing,  falls  into  the  other  extreme  and  writes 
this  statement,  for  example:  "Du  reste,  a  la  fin  de  sa  vie,  Sainte-Beuve 
n'etait  plus,  a  proprement  parler,  un  critique,  si  ce  n'est  par  exception 
et  comme  par  divertissement."  He  amplifies  by  explaining  that  Sainte- 
Beuve  was  a  moralist  and  a  psychologist,  not  a  literary  critic.  He 
undoubtedly  does  good  service  in  laying  stress  on  this  side  of  the  critic's 
activities,  but  his  statement  is  without  the  proper  reservations  and  seems 
to  imply  that  Sainte-Beuve  was  not  at  all  times  a  critic  of  literature — a 
misleading  implication,  since  in  this  last  period,  as  indeed  throughout 
his  career,  he  was  primarily  interested  in  the  art  of  literature  and  the 
literary  artist.  A  complete,  co-ordinated  reading  of  all  Sainte-Beuve's 
work  will,  we  believe,  correct  the  impression  made  by  Faguet. 

^  F.  Brunetiere,  Uevolution  de  la  critique  (Paris,  1890),  p.  234. 

» Ibid.,  p.  237. 

3  Emile  Faguet,  Politiques  et  moralistes  (Paris,  1899),  III,  185. 


6         SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

Gustave  Michaut,  in  the  last  chapter  of  Sainte-Beuve  avant  les  lundis,^ 
gives  a  study  of  Chateaubriand  et  son  groupe  litteraire.  Sainte-Beuve 
collected  the  material  in  this  book  for  a  course  of  lectures  which  he  offered 
in  the  year  of  his  professorship  at  Liege,  1848-49.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  some  of  the  ideas  which  later  found  full  expression  in  the  essays 
are  foreshadowed  and  some  even  quite  clearly  embodied  in  the  Chateau- 
briand. Michaut  examines  the  critical  technique  of  this  volume,  con- 
cluding that,  allowing  for  the  larger  scope  of  the  book,  it  is  not  different 
in  technique  from  the  essays. 

The  two  poles  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  world  are,  according  to 
Michaut,  taste  and  truth,  and  by  them  he  orients  himself,  whatever 
-/-  book  or  man  he  has  before  him  for  study.  Though  we  shall  be  obliged, 
after  a  survey  of  the  great  critic's  later  work,  to  add  to  these  cardinal 
standpoints  for  judgment  three  more  categories  of  equal  importance — tra- 
dition, logic  or  consistency,  and  moraUty — yet  this  chapter  of  Michaut's 
monumental  work  is  penetrating  and  sound.  He  analyzes  extensively 
the  scientific  attitude  of  Sainte-Beuve  and  his  doctrine  of  scientific 
criticism,  developing  further  the  ideas  of  Levallois,  both  following 
indeed  the  outline  made  by  Sainte-Beuve  himself  in  the  essay  mentioned 
above.^ 

But  Michaut  limits  himself  to  the  earlier  work.  His  material  lies 
strictly  in  the  years  avant  les  lundis.  This  present  treatise  will  apply 
to  th^  late  work  the  same  sort  of  intensive  study  with  a  view  to  deducing 
in  addition  the  principles  that  Sainte-Beuve  developed  within  the 
Lundis.  As  a  matter  of  course,  some  of  the  ideas  expounded  will  coincide 
with  those  that  Michaut  found — Sainte-Beuve  did  not  abrogate  all 
his  earher  principles.  It  is  the  hope  of  this  thesis  to  supplement  and 
complete,  not  to  supersede,  the  Sainte-Beuve  avant  les  lundis. 

Saintsbury,  in  his  voluminous  History  of  Criticism'^  gives  a  fairly 
full  account  of  Sainte-Beuve.  As  is  usual  with  Saintsbury,  the  essay 
is  full  of  whims  and  subject  to  affectations,  and  the  sketch  is  literary 
rather  than  technical.  But  below  this  surface  we  find  one  of  the  most 
inspiring  accounts  of  the  master  that  have  been  written.  It  is  especially 
valuable  for  its  clear  and  firm  outline  of  Sainte-Beuve's  working  prin- 
ciples and  for  its  picture  of  the  organization  of  a  t3^ical  or  standard 
Causerie. 

^  Gustave  Michaut,  Sainte-Beuve  avant  les  lundis  (Fribourg  et  Paris,  1903). 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  i. 

3  Saintsbury,  A  History  of  Criticism  (Edinburgh  and  London,  1904),  Vol.  III. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SUBJECT  7 

There  remain  for  special  mention  the  two  latest  important  books  in 
EngUsh:  Sainte-Beuve,  by  George  McLean  Harper;  and  the  section 
on  Sainte-Beuve  in  Irving  Babbitt's  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism. 
Harper's  book^  is  especially  valuable  as  biography  and  traces  the  events 
of  Sainte-Beuve's  later  life  in  close  connection  with  his  literary  produc- 
tion. Harper  is,  in  many  respects,  of  the  school  of  Sainte-Beuve  himself, 
and  lays  his  main  emphasis  on  the  more  personal  and  intimate  aspects 
of  his  subject.  Consequently  he  makes  no  extended  attempt  to  gather 
and  systematize  all  of  Sainte-Beuve's  ideas  on  criticism.  The  earUer 
chapters,  dealing  with  the  critic  in  his  formative  period,  are  more 
exhaustive  and  helpful  than  are  the  later  ones.  In  these  latter  there  is 
great  compression  and  the  confusion  that  comes  from  treating  in  a  small 
space  so  vast  and  complex  a  subject  as  the  critic's  ideas  and  practice 
during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life. 

The  chapter  in  Babbitt's  book^  was  written  from  a  distinct  point  of 
view,  that  of  treating  Sainte-Beuve  as  a  naturahstic  thinker,  a  Darwinian, 
an  exponent  of  the  scientific  trend  of  the  nineteenth  century.  But 
Babbitt  has  a  firm  grasp  on  the  versatile  and  volatile  mind  of  Sainte- 
Beuve,  and  he  makes  clear  in  a  few  most  trenchant  and  convincing 
pages  the  essential  contradiction  between  the  master's  humanistic 
instincts  and  his  scientific  convictions  which  led  him  to  his  attempt, 
or  perhaps  his  dream,  of  making  criticism  both  a  science  and  an  art. 
Babbitt  also  discusses  from  a  modern  philosophical  and  Hterary  point 
of  view  some  of  the  more  prevalent  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  ideas  and 
points  out  authoritatively  and  definitely  the  excellences  and  defects, 
the  powers  and  limitations,  of  the  great  critic.  Babbitt's  article  contains 
the  most  masterly  writing  yet  done  concerning  the  later  Sainte-Beuve.^ 

The  foregoing  fist  is  brief  because  only  those  books  were  chosen,  from 
among  the  hundreds  that  make  up  the  bibliography  of  the  subject, 
which  have  contributed  something  new  and  distinctive  in  method,  in 
material,  or  in  philosophy  to  the  discussion  of  Sainte-Beuve  after  1849. 

»  George  McLean  Harper,  Sainte-Beuve  (London  and  Philadelphia,  1909). 

'  Irving  Babbitt,  The  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism  (Boston  and  New  York, 
I9i2),pp.  97ff. 

3  In  a  discussion  and  evaluation  of  Sainte-Beuve's  later  ideas  and  practice,  it 
seems  questionable  to  justify  and  illustrate  conclusions  by  so  many  quotations  of 
material  from  his  early  works,  especially  the  Portraits  litteraires,  as  early  as  1832-38. 


'/ 


II.    THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM 

The  attempt  to  resurvey  and  unify  the  thought  of  a  great  writer  is 
of  course  to  be  approached  with  modesty  and  some  misgiving.  The 
task  is  the  more  formidable  if  the  writer  be  one  so  voluminous  and  so 
multifarious  in  his  interests  as  is  Sainte-Beuve.  He  himself  knew  well 
the  difficulties  of  such  an  undertaking:  "II  est  difficile,  en  general,  de 
ramener  a  I'unite  Toeuvre  eparse  d'un  critique;  il  est  delicat  surtout  de 
pr^tendre  saisir  le  point  central  et  le  noyau  de  ces  organisations  de  plus 
d'etendue  que  de  relief."^  He  felt  that  his  own  mind  was  of  the  kind  he 
described — "de  plus  d'etendue  que  de  relief."  "J'ai  Tesprit  etendu 
successivement,  mais  je  ne  Tai  pas  etendu  a  la  fois.  Je  ne  vois  bien  a 
la  fois  qu'un  point  ou  qu'un  objet  determine."^  But  the  difficulties  are 
challenging  and  the  possible  reward  inviting. 
•^  Our  first  question  then  is  as  to  the  teaching  of  the  great  critic  con- 
cerning the  most  fundamental  problem  of  criticism,  its  functions.  And 
because  of  its  constant  recurrence  and  strong  emphasis  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  Sainte-Beuve  regarded  as  the  most  important  function  of 
criticism  the  discovery  and  proclaiming  of  truth.  Nor  is  this  to  him  so 
inclusive  and  formless  a  task  as  it  might  at  first  appear.  When  we 
examine  the  details  of  his  thinking  on  this  point  we  find  it  definite  and 
practical.  He  had  taken  for  his  seal  the  EngHsh  word  "truth,"  which 
represents  both  la  verite  and  le  vrai.  He  said»  "If  I  had  a  motto,  it 
would  be  the  true,  the  true  alone,  and  as  for  the  good  and  beautiful,  they 
might  fare  as  best  they  could.  "^ 

But  his  scientific  positivism,  as  it  appears  in  the  search  for  truth 
and  in  sense  of  fact,  is  so  modified  by  his  philosophy  of  flux  and  by  the 
\  humanistic  generosity  of  his  sympathies  that  he  has  frequent  moments 
\'  of  misgiving,  such  as  is  voiced  in  this  passage:  " Qu'est-ce  que  la  verity  ? 
Nous  sommes  de  pauvres  esquifs  qui  ramons  sur  la  mer  sans  fin.  Nous 
montrons  quelque  reflet  de  lumiere  sur  la  vague  brisee,  et  nous  disons: 
c^est  la  verite.''^  If  this  has  a  skeptical  pragmatic  ring  it  is  because 
Sainte-Beuve  conceived  of  truth  as  relative  and  contingent;   it  is  not 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  459.  '  Cahiers,  p.  39. 

3  Correspondance,  II,  41.    Of  the  book  on  Chateaubriand:   "  Je  n'ai  voulu  qu'une 
chose;  6tre  vrai  et  rendre  le  vrai"  {ibid.,  I,  267). 
*  Causer ies  du  lundi,  XI,  514. 

8 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  g 

philosophic,  ideaHstic,  unfunctioning  truth  that  he  seeks,  but  la  vSriti 
vraie  of  the  scientist,  factual  truth  and  fidelity  of  detail.  This  he  feels  is 
not  easy  to  find;  yet  it  is  less  difficult  to  find  it  than  to  secure  its  accept- 
ance.^ "Pauvre  verite,  verite  vraie,  verite  nue,  que  de  peine  on  a  ^  te 
faire  sortir  de  ton  puits  et  quand  on  est  parvenu  a  t'en  sortir  a  demi  et 
a  mi-corps,  que  de  gens  accourus  de  toutes  parts  qui  ont  h^te  de  t'y. 
renf oncer.  "^  Thus  half  jestingly  does  he  state  the  profound  and  pro- 
foundly discouraging  fact  that  even  in  matters  purely  literary  people 
hate  the  truth  and  cling  lovingly  to  illusion.^  /fie  was  convinced  that 
the  large  number  of  persons  who  were  offended  by  his  volume  on  Chateau- 
briand were  so  offended  because  they  were  not  able  or  willing  to  face  the 
truth.  "*Je  suis  convaincu  depuis  longtemps,'  m'ecrivait  a  ce  sujet 
un  etranger  qui  salt  a  merveille  notre  litterature,^  *que  pour  presque 
tout  le  monde,  la  verite  dans  la  critique  a  quelque  chose  de  fort  deplaisant, 
elle  leur  parait  ironique  et  desobligeante;  on  veut  une  verite  accom- 
modee  aux  vues  et  aux  passions  des  partis  et  des  coteries. '"s  It  is 
precisely  this  "accommodated"  truth  that  Sainte-Beuve  often  depre- 
cated, which  indeed  he  condemned  as  a  most  pernicious  form  of  falsi- 
fication. It  must  be  acknowledged  here,  however,  as  will  be  pointed 
out  elsewhere,  that  in  his  own  practice  he  sometimes  tempered  the  wind 
of  critical  severity  with  more  than  a  modicum  of  mercy. 

Ignoring  the  suffering  of  those  who  are  deprived  of  their  beloved  illu- 
sions, and  disregarding  those  who  may  visit  their  displeasure  on  the 
iconoclastic  critic,  he  must  make  it  his  first  concern  to  seek  with  exact 
and  scrupulous  care  the  truth — to  handle  the  facts  from  which  he  is  to 
draw  his  truth  as  the  chemist  handles  his  data;  more  than  once  he 
compares  Vanalyse  critique  with  V analyse  chimique^  assuming  that  the 
two  processes  might  ideally  be  equally  exact.^ 

He  embodies  these  ideas  in  the  following  significant  passage  on  the 
role  and  activity  of  the  genuine  critic: 

Le  sage  et  le  critique  qui  a  d'avance  purge  son  esprit  de  toutes  les  idoles 
et  de  tous  les  fantomes  ...  ne  continue  pasrnoins,  chaque  jour  et  a  chaque 

^Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  i6i:  "La  v6rite  est  difficile  k  bien  6tablir  et  k  fixer  en 
tout,  et  particulierement  en  histoire." 
"  Cahiers,  p.  139. 

3  Sainte-Beuve  often  asked  himself  whether  it  were  not  better  to  allow  a  certain 
amount  of  this  illusion  to  remain  undisturbed. 

4  This  is  undoubtedly  the  "friend"  whom  Sainte-Beuve  quotes  whenever  he  has 
anything  to  say  that  he  does  not  dare  to  say  in  his  own  person.  It  is  needless  to  point 
out  that  it  is  a  purely  rhetorical  device  and  is  quite  commonly  used  by  Sainte-Beuve. 

5  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  3.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  265. 


10       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

instant,  de  servir  a  sa  maniere  ravancement  de  I'espece,  d'6tudier,  de  chercher 
le  vrai,  le  vrai  seul,  de  s'y  tenir  sans  le  forcer,  sans  I'exagerer,  sans  y  ajouter, 
et  en  laissant  subsister,  a  c6te  des  points  acquis,  tous  les  vides  et  toutes  les 
iacunes  qu'il  n'a  pu  combler.' 

The  fact  that  Saint-Beuve  is  here  speaking  of  scholarship,  of  erudi- 
tion, rather  than  more  narrowly  of  criticism,  does  not  lessen  the  weight 
-f'  of  the  passage;  for  in  his  mind  there  is  no  chasm  between  scholarship  and 
criticism,  since  learning  is  an  essential  item  in  the  critic's  equipment, 
and  the  mastery  of  the  field  in  which  his  subject-matter  lies  a  necessary 
first  step  in  the  critic's  total  procedure. 

The  passion  for  the  truth  of  exactness  he  recognizes  as  a  distinctively 
modern  trait,  the  product  of  the  scientific  movement;  he  contrasts  the 
point  of  view  arising  from  this  essentially  new  procedure  with  that  of 
the  ancients  whose  ideal  in  the  writing  of  critical  history  was  beauty: 
"L^art  etait  la  forme  la  plus  haute  sous  laquelle  I'antiquite  aimait  ^ 
concevoir  et  a  composer  I'histoire" — the  aim  and  ideal  for  example  of 
Tacitus  and  Livy;  on  the  contrary,  "la  verite  est  la  seule  loi  decidement 
que  les  moderne&  aient  a  suivre  et  a  consulter.  La  verite,  toute  la 
verite  done!  Passons  par  la  puisqu'il  le  faut  et  allons  jusqu'au  bout 
tant  qu'elle  nous  conduit."* 

It  seems  plain  in  this  and  in  many  other  passages  quite  as  emphatic 
that  when  Sainte-Beuve  says  la  verite  he  means  truth  to  facts — factual 
I  I '  and  scientific,  not  abstract,  truth — truth,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  Aristo- 
telian, not  in  the  Platonic,  sense.  And  with  this  view  of  criticism  he  tends 
logically  to  make  of  it  a  science  rather  than  an  art.  That  is  to  say,  he 
views  it  as  a  science  so  far  as  thought  and  content  go;  in  matters  of  form, 
criticism  being  a  branch  of  literature,  he  provides  for  the  element  of  art. 
Just  here  may  be  found,  as  Babbitt  points  out,^  the  generating  center  of 
that  conflict  and  incongruity  so  constantly  found  in  Sainte-Beuve^s 
thinking;  it  lies  in  the  adjustment  or  the  maladjustment  between  his 
humanistic  instincts  and  ideals  on  the  one  hand  and  his  scientific  con- 
victions and  knowledge  on  the  other.  Under  the  sway  of  the  one  he 
seems  to  say  that  criticism  is  as  artistic  as  poetry;  under  the  sway  of 
the  other,  that  it  is  as  scientific  as  chemistry.  How  he  effected  a  har- 
monious or  at  least  a  working  compromise  between  the  two  views  may 
appear  later.    Our  concern  here  is  with  his  insistence  upon  the  scien- 

»  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  105. 

» Ihid.,  Ill,  303. 

3  Babbitt,  The  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism,  p.  135. 


I 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  1 1 

tific  scrupulousness  and  completeness  called  for  in  gathering  the  informa- 
tion necessary  for  a  well-grounded  criticism: 

Nous  tous,  partisans  de  la  methode  naturelle  en  litterature  et  qui  I'ap- 
pliquons  chacun  selon  notre  mesure  a  des  degres  differents,  nous  tous,  artisans 
et  serviteurs  d'une  meme  science^  que  nous  cherchons  a  rendre  aussi  exacte 
que  possible,  sans  nous  payer  de  notions  vagues  et  de  vains  mots;  continuons 
done  d'observer  sans  relache,  d'6tudier  et  de  penetrer  les  conditions  des  ceuvres 
diversement  remarquables  et  I'infinie  variete  des  formes  de  talent;  forgons-les 
de  nous  rendre  raison  et  de  nous  dire  comment  et  pourquoi  elles  sont  de  telle 
ou  telle  facon  et  qualite  plutot  que  d'une  autre,  dussions-nous  ne  jamais  tout 
expliquer,  et  dut-il  rester,  apres  tout  notre  effort,  un  dernier  point  et  comme  une 
demiere  citadelle  irreductible.* 

This  last  sentence  gives  us  an  example  of  those  apparent  vacillations 
that  seem  to  overtake  the  great  critic  in  his  most  earnest  defenses  of 
purely  scientific  criticism;  for  here  in  the  implied  admission  that  th^ 
are  reaches  of  an  author's  work  closed  to  scientific  investigation  anv. 
open  only  to  intuitive  penetration  he  seems  to  abandon  his  case  fo. 
science.^  But  this  admission  does  not  invalidate  his  claim  as  to  the 
necessity  of  gathering,  in  a  strictly  scientific  way,  the  facts  and  all  the 
facts,  though  this  process  must  in  many  cases  be  supplemented  by  an 
intuitive  activity  of  the  sympathetic  critic  which  functions  beyond  the 
horizon  of  science. 

The  establishment  of  truth  has  two  aspects,  complementary  and 
of  almost  equal  importance.  Obviously,  of  course,  it  brings  to  light 
actual  facts,  verifiable  knowledge;  but  in  the  second  place  it  destroys 
false  traditions,  disposes  of  untrue  and  unreal  conceptions,  blasts 
baseless  illusions,  and  clears  out  other  useless  and  dangerous  rubbish: 
"L'histoire  (m^me  Utteraire)  transmise  est  presque  toujours  factice; 
a  nous  de  briser  la  glace,  pour  retrouver  le  courant.''^  It  is  apparent 
at  once  that,  just  because  Sainte-Beuve  is  a  critic  and  not  a  Hterary 
appreciator  or  expounder,  and  because  he  is  dealing  with  a  vast  num- 
ber of  reputations  irregularly  and  popularly  estabHshed,  he  finds  more 
work  to  do  in  the  destruction  of  wrong  critical  impressions  and  con- 
clusions than  in  the  establishment  of  new  facts  and  fresh  points  of  view. 

» Notice  the  word  "science"  used  here.  Cf.  his  "science  of  minds,"  etc.,  in  the 
second  section. 

^  On  Taine's  Histoire  de  la  literature  anglaise  in  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  88. 

3  Sainte-Beuve  did  not  hesitate  to  contradict  himself.  Elsewhere  he  even  speaks 
of  the  right  of  the  critic  to  "dire,  redire,  et  se  contredire"  {Correspondance,  II,  370). 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  494. 


12       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

This  will  explain  and  justify  much  of  his  destructive  criticism — ^he  is  a 
new,  critical  Cervantes.  To  find  the  main  current  of  truth  is  a  prime 
motive  of  the  critic;  to  re-estabhsh  real  facts  about  a  writer  and  to  clear 
away  from  his  reputation  the  mass  of  fictitious  legends  and  merely 
attributed  excellences  which  grow  up  about  any  considerable  reputa- 
tion— "inventions  ...  que  la  critique  n'admet  pas" — this  he  must  do 
without  pity.^ 

The  critic's  search  for  truth  leads  him  to  go  deeper  than  external 
superficial  facts  in  the  hope  of  finding  the  inner  mental  spirit  of  the 
age  or  the  man  he  is  studying.  He  will  refuse  to  accept  for  serious  con- 
sideration superficial  appearances,  absurdities,  and  falsehoods,  even 
though  they  bear  the  stamp  of  age  and  long  acceptance.  These  things 
the  critic  brushes  aside  for  the  sake  of  going  directly  at  the  central, 
generating,  significant  features  of  his  book,  his  man,  or  his  epoch. 
Sainte-Beuve  in  his  own  practice  never  hesitated  at  this  point.'  Indeed 
he  seemed  to  find  a  righteous  joy  in  the  destruction  of  traditions  which 
he  regarded  as  embodying  falsehood,  regardless  of  their  antiquity  or 
their  respectability — this  in  addition  to  a  certain  malicious  satisfaction 
he  derived  from  the  very  process  of  disillusionment. 

The  critic's  care  for  the  truth  is  concerned  even  with  the  deUcate 
and  difficult  matter  of  truth  to  atmosphere.  Sainte-Beuve  felt  that 
the  first  step  in  creatmg  the  true  atmosphere  is  to  find  in  the  man  his 
trait  saillant:  "C'est  ainsi  ...  qu'il  faut,  en  definitive,  juger  des  grands 
hommes,  sans  s'amuser  aux  accessoires,  et  en  s'elevant  jusqu'au  point 
qui  domine  en  eux  les  contradictions  et  les  travers."^  By  placing  the 
emphasis  on  this  salient  or  distinguishing  trait  he  brings  his  subject  at 
once  into  the  true  light;''  he  will  not  hesitate  to  tear  away  the  veils  of 

^  Nouveaiix  lundis,  V,  219.  Sainte-Beuve  goes  on  here  to  express  regret  that  in 
the  interests  of  the  truth  these  legends  which  are  sometimes  most  beautiful  should 
have  to  be  destroyed.  "Si  nous  d6truisions  la  16gende,  il  semble  que  nous  devrions 
•nous  mettre  en  peine  de  la  remplacer  aussit6t."  But  it  is  the  artist  in  him  who  feels 
this  regret  and  the  artist  is  glad  for  the  sacrifice  for  the  benefit  of  the  scientist. 

In  another  place  he  expresses  a  similar  doubt  as  to  the  expediency  of  destroying 
popular  beliefs.  "II  en  est  des  personnages  c61dbres  comme  des  choses,  la  majority 
des  hommes,  ne  les  juge  qu'^  un  certain  point  de  perspective  et  d'illusion.  Est-il 
bien  n6cessaire  de  venir  miner  cette  illusion,  et  de  les  montrer  par  le  dedans  tels 
qu'ils  sont,  en  leur  ouvrant  devant  tous  les  entrailles  ?  Je  me  le  demande,  et  pourtant 
je  le  fais"  (Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  461). 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  517.  >  Ibid.,  Ill,  185. 

<  It  would  have  been  easy  for  him,  he  says,  to  have  made  a  more  favorable  portrait 
of  M.  Bazin  but  "je  crois  que  la  plus  grande  faveur  qu'on  puisse  faire  k  un  homme 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  13 

accumulated  legend  that  obscure  the  true  figure;^  he  must  display  it 
with  its  faults  and  virtues,  its  limitations  and  qualifications;'  he  must 
disregard  affection  and  predilection — ^all  in  order  that  the  way  may  be 
cleared  for  the  presentation  of  the  particular  and  characterizing 
originaUty  of  the  man  or  the  book,  "montrer  a  tous  en  quoi  consistent 
rinnovation  et  I'espece  de  decouverte  reelle  charmant  artiste. "«»  He 
sums  up  his  teaching  on  this  point  when  he  says  that  he  has  studied 
Villemain  with  a  view  to  presenting  him  as  he  is; 

Les  gens  de  lettres,  les  historians  et  pr^cheurs  moralistes  ne  sont-ils  done 
que  des  com6diens  qu'on  n'a  pas  le  droit  de  prendre  en  dehors  du  rdle  qu'ils 
se  sent  arrange  et  defini  ?  faut-il  ne  les  voir  que  sur  la  scene  et  tant  qu'ils  y 
sent  ?  ou  bien  est-il  permis,  le  sujet  bien  connu,  de  venir  hardiment,  bien  que 
discretement,  glisser  le  scalpel  et  indiquer  le  d^faut  de  la  cuirasse  ?  de  montrer 
les  points  de  suture  entre  le  talent  et  I'^me  ?  de  louer  Tun,  mais  de  marquer 
aussi  le  d^faut  de  I'autre,  qui  se  ressent  jusque  dans  le  talent  m^me  et  dans 
Teffet  qu'il  produit  a  la  longue  ?  La  htt^rature  y  perdra-t-elle  ?  c'est  possible: 
la  science  morale  y  gagnera.^ 

The  critic  should  resolutely  clear  away  from  his  author  this  overlay  of 
legend  and  popular  overestimation  even  at  the  risk  of  incurring  the  repro- 
bation that  Sainte-Beuve  says  he  endured  because  of  his  iconoclasm 
in  respect  to  Chateaubriand.  But  the  honest  and  fearless  critic  "ne 
pretend  rien  oter  que  de  faux,  on  ne  veut  y  remettre  que  la  verite  de  la 
physionomie  et  I'entiere  <«ssemblance."s 

When  he  has  isolated  the  trait  saillant  or  has  identified  the  facility 
mattresse  the  critic  has  then  the  privilege  and  the  duty  of  placing  the 
author  in  the  great  literary  scheme,  and  thus  recording  for  his  generation, 
if  not  for  all  time,  what  he  feels  to  be  the  truth: 

Le  devoir  de  chaque  generation  est  d'enterrer  ses  morts  et  de  celebrer 
plus  particulierement  ceux  qui  ont  droit  a  des  honneurs  distingu6s.    Quand 


distingu6  ...  c'est  de  le  montrer  le  plus  au  vif  qu'on  peut,  et  le  plus  saillant  dans  les 
lignes  de  la  v6rit6  {ihid.,  II,  484). 

He  says  elsewhere  that  he  writes  of  Tocqueville  in  order  to  present  the  real  man 
and  "prendre,  autant  que  je  le  pouvais,  la  mesure  de  I'homme,  avant  qu'il  pass4t 
k  l'6tat  de  demi-dieu  par  le  fait  de  I'apoth^ose  acad6mique"  (Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  150). 

^  His  own  most  extensive  unveiling  was  perhaps  the  Chateaubriand  et  son  groupe 
litUraire.  He  says  also  of  C.  G.  Etienne:  "Dans  ce  qu'on  a  6crit  jusqu'4  present  sur 
lui,  je  remarque  bien  des  choses  convenues,  et  commandees,  qui  masquent  un  peu  la 
physionomie  veritable;  je  n'ai  aucune  raison  pour  ne  pas  restituer  quelque  chose  ici, 
d'autant  plus  qu'il  doit  s'y  mfiler  bien  des  61oges"  (Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  474).  He 
says  the  same  thing  of  Raynouard  in  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  2. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  286.  4  Correspondance,  I,  316. 

5  Ibid.,  VIII,  414.  5  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  187. 


14      SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

je  dis  c61ebrer,  je  n'entends  pas  cette  louange  unifonne  et  banale  qui  tend  k 
grandir  et  a  exhausser  un  personnage  au  dela  du  vrai;  la  meilleure  oraison 
funebre,  la  seule  digne  des  gens  d'esprit  qui  en  sont  I'objet,  est  celle,  qui, 
sans  rien  surfaire,  va  degager  et  indiquer  en  eux,  au  milieu  de  bien  des  qualit^s 
confuses,  le  trait  distinctif  et  saillant  de  leur  physionomie."^ 

It  is  also  wise  "revenir  de  temps  en  temps  sur  les  diverses  epoques 
litteraires,  m6me  celles  qui  ont  ete  deja  tres-explorees  et  qui  sont  censees 
les  mieux  connues,  pour  y  constater  les  changements  introduits  par  le 
cours  des  etudes,  pour  enregistrer  les  acquisitions  reelles  et  faire  justice 
des  pretentions  peu  fondees."^ 

The  first  function  of  criticism,  then,  is  the  establishment  of  truth, 
basing  it  upon  the  fullest  collection  and  consideration  of  facts,  weeding 
out  the  irrelevancies  and  inventions,  estabhshing,  in  a  word,  history 
indubitable  and  as  complete  as  possible. 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  function  of  criticism,  which  is,  in  the 
phrase  of  our  own  day,  "social  betterment,"  the  actual  amelioration  of 
social  conditions,  the  improvement  of  social  institutions,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  a  social  psychology.  These  operations  take  place  in  two  fields, 
in  that  of  morals  and  ideas,  and  in  that  of  aesthetics. 

After  every  social  upheaval  literature  must  help  to  rebuild  the  edifices 
of  society,  and  criticism  must  aid  in  this  rehabilitation. 

Toutes  les  fois  qu'apres  un  long  bouleversement  I'ordre  politique  se  r6pare 
et  reprend  sa  marche  reguliere,  Tordre  litteraire  tend  a  se  mettre  en  accord 
et  a  suivre  de  son  mieux.  La  critique  (quand  critique  il  y  a)  ...  accomplit 
son  ceuvre,  et  sert  a  la  restauration  commune  .^ 

Malherbe  accompHshed  such  a  task  after  the  Ligue,  Boileau  after  the 
Fronde.  In  1800  it  was  the  critical  small  change  of  Malherbe  and 
Boileau  "qui  remirent  le  bon  ordre  dans  les  choses  de  I'esprit  et  firent 
la  police  des  Lettres."^  Perhaps  Sainte-Beuve  hoped  to  render  some  such 
social  service  when  after  the  coup  d^etat  of  1851  he  rallied  with  such 
extraordinary  promptness,  though  with  none  too  great  cordiality,  to  the 
standard  of  the  new  empire  in  his  article  "Les  Regrets,"  published 
in  1852.S 

'^  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  440.  Sainte-Beuve  might  have  added  "by  pointing  out  and 
emphasizing  their  faculU  mattresse." 

'  Ibid.,  IV,  289.  3  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  374. 

^  Ibid.,  I,  374.  Sainte-Beuve  does  not  often  admit  even  this  much  virtue  in 
neo-classical  ideas. 

5  Ihid.y  VI,  397.  Cf.  Harper,  Sainte-Beuve,  pp.  310  ff.,  who  describes  the  hatred 
which  Sainte-Beuve  brought  on  himself  by  this  article. 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  15 

Sainte-Beuve  gives -also  specific  instances  of  the  helpful  ministrations 
of  the  critic  in  the  case  of  a  diseased  mental  life,  a  spiritual  malady  such 
as  was  the  mat  de  Rene.  It  was  St.  Marc  Girardin,  says  Sainte-Beuve, 
who  did  more  than  anyone  else  toward  the  cure  of  this  particular  malady 
in  the  minds  of  the  youth  of  France,  both  by  his  writing  as  a  critic 
and  by  his  lectures  at  the  university.'^  Indeed  Sainte-Beuve  whimsically 
complains  that  Girardin  did  his  work  too  thoroughly,  so  that  whereas 
previously  every  young  man  longed  to  die  of  consumption,  in  his  day 
every  young  man  desired  to  become  a  healthy  pere  de  famille  and  a 
deputy  at  twenty-five. 

The  critic  is  in  so  real  a  sense  a  guardian  of  the  morals  of  society 
that  he  must  be  depended  upon  to  discountenance  infringements  of  moral 
law  and  order.  Sainte-Beuve  censures  Grimm  severely  for  his  failure 
to  condemn  certain  immoral  works  of  the  eighteenth  century — of 
Helvetius  and  Holbach.^ /So  seriously  does  he  regard  this  aspect  of  the 
critic's  work  that  we  find  morahty  counted  by  him  as  one,  though  a 
minor  one,  of  the  five  pierres-de-touche  which  he  himseK  used  in  testing 
the  excellence  of  any  book,  according  to  which  he  praised  it  as  helpful 
or  condemned  it  as  dangerous  to  society/  Of  course  Sainte-Beuve 
recognizes  the  relativity  of  moral  codes  and  ideals,  and  he  refrained  from 
setting  up  a  hard-and-fast  doctrine  on  which  the  critic  can  completely 
depend.3 

A  further  service  of  the  critic  to  society  is  rendered  when  he  saves 
it  from  becoming  the  prey  of  the  charlatan,  from  being  imposed  upon 
by  the  egotists,  self-seekers,  and  demagogues.  Sainte-Beuve  himself 
possessed  in  remarkably  large  measure  the  "wisdom  of  disillusion" 
requisite  for  the  discharge  of  this  duty.4  He  feels  that  he  rendered  some 
such  service  to  the  public  of  his  day  when  in  his  two  monumental  volumes 
on  Chateaubriand  he  spoiled  the  pose  of  that  eminent  poseur.  It  was 
his  delight,  as  he  considered  it  his  duty,  to  demohsh  pedestals. 

But  above  all,  the  distinctive  service  of  the  critic  to  his  age  and  his 
group  is  that  of  cultivating  taste  in  Hterature  and  the  other  arts;  of 
preserving  and  making  operative  in  the  social  mind  whatever  of  good 
taste  and  good  usage  has  been  handed  down  from  former  times;  of  pro- 
tecting the  best  tradition,  proclaiming  the  best  models;  of  constantly 
indicating  the  path  by  which  beauty  and  distinction  may  be  reached.^ 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  17.        ^  On  morality  as  a  critical  touchstone,  see  p.  67. 

» Ibid.,  VII,  323.  4  Babbitt,  op.  ciL,  p.  187. 

sCf.  Matthew  Arnold:  "It  is  the  critic's  business  to  see  that  the  intellectual 
current  of  his  time  is  broad  and  large,  and  that  it  moves  in  the  right  direction."  See 
Essays  in  Criticism,  pp.  1-38;  also  the  article  "Sainte-Beuve,"  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica. 


l6      SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

In  Sainte-Beuve's  judgment  the  functions  of  the  critic  here  coincide  with 
those  of  the  scholar  and  the  teacher,  since  it  is  equally  their  task  to 
discover,  conserve,  and  propagate  true  distinction,  to  join  forces  against 
the  legions  of  the  Philistines  who  know  not  if  there  be  a  tradition.  To 
the  critic,  however,  falls  the  further  task  of  discovering  and  proclaiming 
new  achievements  in  art  and  of  welcoming  innovations  good  enough 
to  be  added  to  the  world's  storehouse  of  precious  things. 

In  his  famous  essay  *'De  la  tradition  en  litterature"  Sainte-Beuve 
gives  in  great  detail  his  sense  of  the  critic's  duty  toward  this  large  and 
sacred  social  inheritance — ^in  France  inherited  even  from  the  mighty 
Hellenic  days.  This  it  is  that  the  critic  must  help  to  keep  uncorrupted 
and  active.  He  should  be,  therefore,  an  agent,  explosive  or  erosive,  in 
removing  those  accretions  that  gather  about  and  disfigure  tradition  and 
which  from  age  to  age  become  useless  "a  chaque  renouvellement  de 
siecle,  il  y  a  dans  la  tradition  recente  qu'on  croyait  fondee  des  portions 
qui  s'ecroulent,  qui  s'eboulent,  en  quelque  sorte,  et  n'en  font  que  mieux 
apparaitre  dans  sa  soUdite  le  roc  et  le  marbre  indestructible."^  He 
draws  an  interesting  picture  of  this  clear  tradition  which  the  critic 
must  cherish  as  the  embodiment  of  urbanity  and  reason.* 

The  Graeco-Roman  clarity  and  intelligence  are  actuating  principles 
also  of  the  Frenchman: 

Non,  la  tradition  nous  le  dit  ...  ,  la  raison  toujours  doit  presider  et  preside 
en  definitive,  m^me  entre  ces  f avoris  et  ces  61us  de  rimagination ;  ou  si  elle  ne 
preside  pas  constamment  et  si  elle  laisse  par  acces  courir  la  verve,  elle  n'est 
jamais  loin,  elle  est  a  c6te  qui  sourit,  attendant  Theure  ...  de  revenir.  C'est 
de  cette  religion  litteraire  que  nous  sommes,  au  milieu  m^me  des  plus  vives 
hardiesses,  et  que  nous  voulons  ^tre  toujours.3 

Not  only  does  the  critic  guard  and  preserve  this  tradition,  but  by 
making  it  audible  and  active  he  performs  a  most  important  function — 
cultivating  the  taste  of  his  public,  preparing  them  to  receive  and  to 
demand  what  is  good  in  art.  There  must  be  taste  to  receive  as  well  as 
to  create  before  there  can  be  a  movement,  a  great  productive  moment, 
in  any  art.  In  a  very  real  sense  the  receptivity  of  the  public  is  as  creative 
as  the  inspiration  of  the  artist. 

That  the  critic  can  and  may  serve  groups  and  movements  of  artists 
is  proved  by  the  case  of  Henri  Beyle,  the  "Uterary  hussar,"  and  his 

*  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  373. 

^  Ibid.,  XV,  362.    See  later,  p.  60,  where  there  is  a  fuller  discussion  of  his 
attitude  toward  the  classical  tradition. 
3  Ibid.,  XV,  368. 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  17 

victorious  campaign  against  the  army  of  the  classicists  encamped  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river  PubHc  Opinion  in  favor  of  the  army  of  the  roman- 
ticists on  the  other  bank  of  this  same  stream.^ 

The  critic's  whole  duty  is  not  discharged  when  he  has  served  the 
pubhc,  his  social  group.  He  has  also  the  privilege  of  serving  the  indi- 
vidual artist  himself: 

Le  critique,  s'il  fait  ce  qu'il  doit  ...  est  una  sentinelle  toujours  en  eveille, 
sur  le  qui-vive.  Et  il  ne  crie  pas  seulement  holal  il  aide.  Loin  de  ressembler 
a  un  pirate  et  de  se  rejouir  des  nauf rages,  il  est  quelquefois  comme  le  pilote 
c6tier  qui  va  au  secours  de  ceux  que  surprend  la  tempete  a  I'entree  ou  au  sortir 
du-port.' 

He  was,  however,  not  slow  to  admit  the  limitations  of  the  service  that 
the  critic  can  render  to  the  artist — he  cannot  create  genius: 

La  critique,  a  chaque  renouvellement  de  regime,  peut  essayer  et  combiner 
des  programmes  qu'elle  croit  utiles;  elle  peut  proposer  et  recomposer  ses  plans 
d'une  Htterature  studieuse  et  reparatrice  ...  c'est  son  devoir;  mais  I'imagina- 
tion,  la  fleur,  Tinspiration  de  la  passion  et  du  sentiment,  lui  6chappent:  cela 
nait  et  recommence  comme  il  plait  a  Dieu.^ 

He  never  forgets  that  ideally  "un  critique  est  aussi  un  praticien  qui 
prend  Fart  ou  il  est — et  qui  en  tire  le  meilleur  parti"  as  did  "Diderot,  ce 
critique  cordial  et  rechauffant."'*  His  admiration  of  Diderot  as  a  critic 
had  precisely  this  basis — that  the  latter  was  practically  always  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  artist,  which  is  on  the  whole  the  most  fruitful  and  trust- 
worthy attitude  the  critic  can  take:  "Les  conseils  de  critique  a  artiste 
sont  utiles,  mais  ils  ne  valent  rien  que  s'ils  sont  accompagn6s  d'une 
sympathie  intelHgente."s  It  is  in  this  spirit — ^as  friend  and  well-wisher — 
that  he  himself  criticized  Flaubert's  Salammbd:  "On  n'est  jamais  jug6 
que  par  ses  amis, "  he  exclaims  in  another  connection.*^ 

But  this  sympathetic  attitude  must  not,  of  course,  blind  the  critic 
to  the  less  agreeable  aspects  of  his  duty.  He  must  not  lend  himself 
to  the  zealous  championship  of  his  artist.  He  must  not  be  afraid  to 
condemn  severely,  to  point  out  faults,  especially  curable  faults.  Indeed, 
Sainte-Beuve  seems  to  feel  frequently  in  this  later  period  of  his  work 
that  when  the  critic  is  in  perfect  agreement  with  the  author  there  is 
nothing  for  him  to  say.     "II  en  est  ainsi  de  la  critique:  elle  tourne  court 

^  Ibid.,  IX,  316.  This  whole  passage  is  very  instructive  as  to  the  function  of 
the  critic. 

'Ibid.,  XV,  373. 

3  Ibid.,  V,  381.  s  ibid.^  p.  loo. 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  99.  ^  Cahiers,  p.  79. 


i8       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

et  s'en  va  quand  elle  est  d'accord  avec  I'auteur."^  The  exaggeration 
in  this  statement  is  obvious,  but  the  truth  which  forms  its  basis  records 
the  change  that  came  over  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  theory  as  he  grew 
more  experienced,  and  attests  the  distance  he  had  traveled  from  the 
merely  inductive  criticism  of  his  early  romantic  period.  His  insistence 
on  the  duty  of  the  critic  to  serve  the  pubUc  and  to  act  as  friend  and  helper 
to  the  author  is  so  striking  that  one  is  obliged  to  feel  that  Sainte-Beuve 
was  profoundly  influenced  by  the  socializing  and  humanitarian  move- 
ments of  his  day.  In  fact  we  know  that  at  one  time  he  joined  the 
Saint-Simon  cult  of  humanitarianism.='  He  recognized  the  prevailing 
current  of  his  century:  "chaque  siecle.a  sa  marotte,  le  notre  ...  a  la 
marptte  humanitaire."^ 

The  beneficial  influence  of  the  critic  upon  the  author  may  be  of  the 
greatest  moment.  It  is  to  Boileau,  to  his  services  as  arbiter  and  critic, 
that  Sainte-Beuve  attributes  much  of  the  excellence  of  le  grand  sUcle. 
The  passage  in  which  he  does  this  is  so  important  in  itseK  and  so 
adequate  a  statement  of  the  point  under  discussion  that  it  may  be 
quoted  at  some  length. 
^  Saluons  et  reconnaissons  aujourd'hui  la  noble  et  forte  harmonie  du  grand 
siecle.  Sans  Boileau,  et  sans  Louis  XIV  qui  reconnaissait  Boileau  comme  son 
Controleur-general  du  Parnasse,  que  serait-il  arrive  ?  Les  plus  grands  talents 
eux-memes  auaient-ils  rendu  egalement  tout  ce  qui  forme  desormais  leur 
plus  solide  heritage  de  gloire  ?  Racine,  je  le  Grains,  aurait  fait  plus  souvent 
des  Berenice;  La  Fontaine  moins  de  Fables  et  plus  de  Conks;  Moliere  lui-meme 
aurait  donne  davantage  dans  les  Scapins,  et  n'aurait  peut-etre  pas  atteint 
aux  hauteurs  severes  du  Misanthrope.  En  un  mot,  chacun  de  ces  beaux 
genies  aurait  abonde  dans  ses  defauts.^  Boileau,  c'est-a-dire  le  bon  sens  du 
poete  critique,  autorise  et  double  de  celui  d'un  grand  roi,  les  contint  tous  et 
les  contraignit,  par  sa  presence  respectee,  a  leurs  meilleures  et  a  leurs  plus  graves 
oeuvres.  Savez-vous  ce  qui,  de  nos  jours,  a  manque  a  nos  poetes,  si  pleins  a 
leur  debut  de  facultes  naturelles,  de  promesses,  et  d 'inspirations  heureuses? 
II  a  manqu6  un  Boileau  et  un  monarque  eclaire,  I'un  des  deux  appuyant 
et  consacrant  I'autre.    Aussi  ces  hommes  de  talent,  se  sentant  dans  un  siecle 

» Nouveaux  hmdis,  I,  337. 

"  Michaud,  op.  cit.,  p.  294.  '  Cauteries  du  lundi,  III,  16. 

4  This  is  exactly  what  happened  in  the  case  of  Le  Sage:  "Qu'on  se  figure  Moliere 
n'ayant  pas  k  c6t6  de  lui  Boileau  pour  I'exciter,  le  gronder,  lui  conseiller  la  haute 
com^die  et  le  Misanthrope;  Moliere  faisant  une  infinite  de  Georges  Dandin,  de  Scapin, 
et  de  Pourceaugnac  en  diminutif.  C'est  la  le  malheur  dont  eut  a  souffrir  Le  Sage,  qui 
est  une  sorte  de  Moliere  adouci.  II  n'eut  pas  k  ses  c6t6s  I'Aristarque  et  s'abandonna 
sans  r6serve  aux  penchants  de  sa  nature,  et  aussi  au  besoin  de  vivre  qui  le  commandait " 
{ibid.,  II,  371). 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  19 

d'anarchie  et  d'indiscipline,  se  sont  vite  conduits  a  Tavenant;  ils  se  sont 
conduits,  au  pied  de  la  lettre,  non  comme  de  nobles  genies  ni  comme  des 
hommes,  mais  comme  des  ecoliers  en  vacances.    Nous  avons  vu  le  resultat.' 

The  excesses  that  Chateaubriand  permitted  himself  in  the  Memoirs 
d'outre-tombe  occur  because  he  lacked  the  critical  offices  of  his 
Aristarchus,  Fontanes,  who  had  saved  him  from  similar  mistakes  in 
his  other  works.^  Honore  de  Balzac,  too,  the  superabundant  and 
flamboyant,  stood  in  sad  need  of  a  friendly  critic-mentor.  "Un  Aris- 
tarque  vrai,  sincere,  intelligent,  s'il  avait  pu  le  supporter,  lui  e^t  et6 
pourtant  bien  utile;  car  cette  riche  et  luxueuse  nature  se  prodiguait 
et  ne  se  gouvernait  pas."^  He  expresses  the  wish  that  his  own  counsels 
may  be  of  service  to  Flaubert  and  save  him  in  the  future  from  some  of 
the  extravagances  of  Salammbo:  *'S'il  lui  arrivait  seulement  de  tenir 
compte,  dans  un  Hvre  futur,  d'une  ou  deux  observations  essentielles 
que  nous  lui  aurions  faites  avec  tout  un  public  ami,  ce  serait  un  resultat."^ 
He  had  little  confidence  in  the  power  of  the  artist  to  control  his  own 
exuberance,s  and  for  this  reason  he  attributes  so  much  value  to  the 
restraining  influence  of  a  firm  and  sympathetic  critic. 

The  author  is  partly  dependent  on  the  good  offices  of  the  critic  in 
the  matter  of  the  estabhshment  and  advancement  of  his  reputation. 
It  is  often  within  the  province  of  the  critic  to  redress  the  balance  for 
an  author  who  is  not  receiving  the  credit  due  him.  Sainte-Beuve  felt 
himself  to  be  reaching  a  helping  hand  to  Scherer  when  he  wrote: 
"M.  Scherer  lui-meme  avait  peut-etre  besoin  d'etre  signale  ...  et  j'ai  tenu 
a  le  faire  sans  retard;  c'etait  justice  a  la  fois  et  plaisir;  j'aime  assez 
k  sonner  le  premier  coup  de  cloche,  comme  on  sait."^  He  performs  with 
equal  pleasure  the  same  service  for  many  other  authors,^  exercising  the 
function  he  claimed  for  the  critic — the  discovering  and  proclaiming  of 
new  talent  or  of  the  less  well-known  aspects  of  recognized  talent.  Indeed, 
a  favorite  type  of  essay  with  him  is  that  which  handles  some  unknown 
aspect  of  a  well-known  writer.  He  liked  to  introduce  a  famous  novelist 
as  a  writer  of  plays,  a  philosopher  or  statesman  as  an  epistolary  writer, 
or  more  frequently  some  great  artist  or  other  celebrity  merely  as  a  man, 
approaching  him  by  the  intimately  biographical  path. 

'  Ibid.,  Wl,  511. 

'  Ibid.,  I,  436;  see  also  Chateaubriand  et  son  groupe  litteraire,  II,  118  flf. 
3  Ihid.,  II,  456;  cf.  also  p.  457.  sBabbitt,  op.  cit.,  p.  182. 

<  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  72.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  66. 

7  E.g.,  Mme  de  Swetchine;  see  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  210. 


20      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

This  service,  so  valuable  to  a  living  author,  may  be  useful  in  the  case 
of  one  no  longer  living — by  "placing"  him  definitely.  His  own  genera- 
tion is  too  close  to  him  adequately  to  bring  to  light  the  real  facts  about 
him.  Too  often  a  writer's  memory  is  laden  with  undeserved  and  unes- 
sential reproach.  Sainte-Beuve  proposes  to  perform  the  task  that  the 
writer's  own  generation  cannot  fulfil,  for  instance  for  Beranger's  cor- 
respondence which  he  thinks  had  been  misunderstood  and  misjudged.* 
Something  like  this  he  did  for  Grimm;  ^  for  Mme  de  Stael  who  had  so 
much  critical  influence  for  good  and  who  had  received  so  little  credit.^ 
Writing  of  the  President  Jeannin  he  says:  "Pour  moi,  je  n'ai  voulu, 
selon  mon  habitude,  que  payer  ma  dette  envers  une  memoire  a  la  fois 
considerable  et  non  toutefois  populaire  et  vulgaire."^ 

The  effect  of  the  reviving  of  forgotten  writers  and  the  rediscovery 
of  neglected  works  is  sometimes  profound;  the  restoration  of  Bossuet 
was  of  the  nature  of  a  triumph.  "La  restitution  de  Bossuet  ...  estassez 
considerable  en  soi;  c'est  une  assez  belle  conquete  de  la  critique 
historique."s 

The  importance  which  Sainte-Beuve  attributed  to  this  process  of 
rehabiUtation  and  the  pleasure  he  had  in  bringing  to  light  neglected  or 
forgotten  aspects  of  art  or  qualities  of  men  explain  in  part  the  fact  so 
often  noticed  concerning  him,  that  he  neglected  the  greatest,  choosing 
minor  writers  for  his  subjects.  Certain  critics  have  even  inferred  from 
this  that  he  was  incapable  of  rising  to  the  high  level  upon  which  the 
great  artists  should  be  criticized.  But  instead  of  inabihty  or  perversity 
in  him  there  are  other  considerations  suflScient  to  explain  Sainte-Beuve's 
choice.  In  the  first  place  there  are  cases  in  which  he  is  interested  in 
the  author  as  a  representative  and  a  product  of  his  society.^  And  it  is 
a  well-known  fact  that  a  minor  writer  offers  a  clearer  and  simpler  example 
in  this  case  than  a  great  one,  since  the  great  man  is  more  than  a  mere 
expression  of  an  epoch.  In  the  second  place,  the  critic  may  have  occu- 
pied himself  with  less  well-known  men  because  it  was  they  who  needed 
recognition  and  introduction,  whereas  the  supreme  geniuses  did  not.7 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  165.  "  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  307. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  292. 

^Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  178.  He  ijiakes  a  similar  statement  concerning  the 
reputation  of  Mme  de  Swetchine.    Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  210. 

s/6i^.,  11,356. 

^  Cf.  Babbitt,  op.  cit.,  p.  155;  Harper,  op.  cit.,  p.  321,  and  injra,  "Precepts  and 
Proc6d6s,"  p.  85. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  515. 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  21 

What  he  says  of  Montesquieu  he  feels  to  be  true  of  all  writers  of  first 
rank:  "II  en  a  ete  excellemment  parle  par  des  maitres,  et  il  est  inutile 
de  venir  repeter  faiblement  ce  qui  a  ete  bien  dit  une  fois."*  Sainte- 
Beuve  found  a  very  congenial  task  in  his  essays  on  the  hterary  women 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  reclaiming  for  literature  all  those  who  were 
influential  either  through  their  writing  or  through  their  salons. 

J'ai  cru  et  je  crois  encore  payer  une  dette  delicate,  remplir  un  devoir  de 
politesse  ...  envers  des  personnes  rares,  si  brillantes  a  leur  heure,  si  f^'tees 
et  meritant  de  I'^tre,  mais  dont  la  memoire,  pour  peu  qu'on  neglige,  d'en 
receuillier  avec  quelque  precision  les  temoignages  et  les  traits  distinctifs,  se 
dissipe  de  loin,  s'efface  peu  a  peu  et  s'evanouit.^* 

But  it  is  equally  the  duty  of  the  literary  critic  to  allow  the  merciful " 
pall  of  oblivion  to  cover  those  minor  writers  who  have  neither  originality 
nor  representative  value.  (Sainte-Beuve  would  have  deplored  the  prac- 
tice of  modern  scholars  who  unearth  and  perpetuate  insignificant 
writers,  better  forgotten.  The  critic  here  needs  much  learning  and  well- 
trained  powers  of  discrimination,  for  the  mere  fact  that  he  occupies 
himself  with  a  bygone  or  neglected  name  assures  for  it  some  prominence 
and  a  certain  measure  of  immortahty  •  he  should  therefore  select  with 
much  care  only  those  who  are  worthy .^j  *'Et  enfin  fut  elle  en  pure  perte, 
cette  insistance  de  la  critique,  meme  lorsqu'elle  n'approuve  pas,  est 
encore  une  maniere  d'hommage.  ...  "^ 

TcLSum  up  what  Sainte-Beuve  conceived  to  be  the  critic's  service 
to  the  artist:  (i)  he  may  actually  improve  the  author's  production  by 
counsel  and  advice;  (2)  he  may  establish  or  augment  the  author's 
reputation,  of  the  living  as  of  the  dead;  (3)  he  prepares  the  public  to 
receive  and  appreciate  the  author's  work;  (4)  he  especially  works  to 
revive  and  re-estabhsh  those  undeservedly  neglected  or  forgotten. 

The  critic's  service  to  the  reader^  begins  in  helping  him  to  choose  good 
reading  and  continues  in  assisting  him  to  grasp  and  then  to  appreciate 
the  thing  he  has  chosen. 

L'art  de  la  critique,  en  un  mot,  dans  son  sens  le  plus  pratique  et  le  plus 
vulgaire,  consiste  a  savoir  lire  judicieusement  les  auteurs,  et  a  apprendre  aux 
autres  a  les  lire  de  meme,  en  leur  epargnant  les  t^tonnements  et  en  leur 
degageant  le  chemin.* 

» Ibid.,  VII,  41.  3  Ibid.,  p.  296. 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  163.  ■♦  Ibid.,  p.  72. 

s  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  321.    He  calls  critics  serviteurs  du  public. 
^Ibid.,  I,  278.    Again  he  says:   "Le  critique  n'est  qu'un  homme  qui  sait  lire     I 
et  qui  apprend  d  lire  aux  autres^'  {Portraits  litter  aires,  III,  546), 


22       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

The  critic  or  expert  is  able  to  save  the  reader  the  difficult  labor 
of  choosing  among  those  works  that  have  survived  or  are  worthy  to 
survive  in  the  evolutionary  struggle. 

La  posterite,  de  plus  en  plus,  me  parait  ressembler  a  un  voyageur  press^ 
qui  fait  sa  malle,  et  qui  ne  peut  y  faire  entrer  qu'un  petit  nombre  de  volumes 
choisis.  Critique,  qui  avez  Thonneur  d'etre  pour  la  posterite  du  moment  un 
nomenclateur  et  un  secretaire,^  et,  s'il  se  peut,  un  bibliothecaire  de  confiance, 
dites-lui  bien  vite  le  titre  de  ces  volumes  qui  meritent  que  Ton  s'en  souvienne, 
et  qu'on  les  lise;  h^tez-vous!  le  convoi  s'apprete,  deja  la  machine  chauffe, 
la  vapeur  fume,  notre  voyageur  n'a  qu'un  instant.^ 

The  critic  is  finally  a  sentinel,  an  outpost  on  the  lookout  for  new 
talents,  and  to  his  sharpened  critical  senses  he  must  add  a  certain  gift 
of  divination,  that  he  may  perceive  promise  when  fulfilment  is  still  far  off. 

II  est  des  organisations  delicates  ...  qui  sentent  vingt-quatre  heures  a 
I'avance  les  changements  de  temps,  qui  les  devinent  en  quelque  sorte;  tel 
doit  6tre  I'esprit  du  critique  par  rapport  au  jugement  du  pubHc.  II  faut  que 
sa  montre  avance  de  cinq  minutes  au  moins  sur  le  cadran  de  I'Hotel-de-Ville.^ 

Yet  this  does  not  mean  that  the  critic  is  in  any  sense  a  prophet  or  a 
soothsayer:  "Le  critique  n'a  pas  le  don  de  deviner  le  talent  cache  qui 
n'a  pas  encore  jailU."4 

The  critic  further  serves  the  reader  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  he  is 
able  as  a  scholar  and  an  expert  to  sum  up  and  condense  a  book  or  a 
larger  corpus  of  material  so  as  to  convey  to  the  reader  knowledge  that 
the  latter  could  never  gather  for  himself.  The  critic  constitutes  himself 
a  guide  through  a  difficult  and. inaccessible  region:  "Rien  n'est  agreable 
et  piquant  comme  un  guide  famiUer  dans  des  epoques  lointaines.  On 
y  apprend  d^une  maniere  facile  mille  choses  nouvelles;  les  reflexions 
naissent  a  chaque  pas  d'elles — memes,"s  etc.  His  duty  to  the  reader  may 
be  merely  that  of  informing  him,  the  discharge  of  his  office  of  scholar; 
it  may  be  pedagogical  or  editorial,  as  when  he  sums  up,  interprets, 
rearranges,  or  otherwise  prepares  the  material  for  the  mental  digestion 

^  Elsewhere  he  uses  this  same  phrase  about  the  critic,  "Le  critique  n'est  que  le 
secretaire  du  public,  mais  un  secretaire  qui  n'attend  pas  qu'on  lui  dicte,  et  qui  devine, 
qui  d6m61e  et  r^dige  chaque  matin,  la  pens6e  de  tout  le  monde"  {Causeries  du  lundi^ 
I,  373). 

2  Ihid.,  IV,  515.  Cf.  also,  where  he  uses  this  same  figure  of  the  reader  resembling 
a  traveler,  ihid.,  VII,  89,  and  Voltaire's  "on  ne  va  pas  k  la  post6rit6  avec  de  si  gros 

iges." 

3  Portraits  contemporains,  V,  457. 
<  CahierSy  p.  143.  s  Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  495. 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  2$ 

of  the  reader;^  or  psycho-social,  as  when  he  prepares  the  mind  of  the 
reader  for  the  reception  of  what  literature  has  to  give  him.*  "Mais 
les  hommes  pour  la  plupart  ne  savent  pas  eux-m^mes  quel  jugement 
porter;  ils  ont  besoin  d'une  marque  exterieure  qui  les  rassure.*'^ 

The  critic  has  an  unmistakable  duty  in  those  cases,  by  no  means 
rare,  where  he  becomes  possessed  of  important  information  or  vital 
points  of  view  which  are  not  common  property.  **I1  me  semble  que 
quand  on  sait  quelque  chose  de  particuUer  et  d'un  peu  nouveau  sur 
Racine,  on  n'est  pas  libre  de  le  garder  pour  soi  et  qu'on  le  doit  a  tous."4 
This  is  particularly  true  if  it  happens,  as  it  often  does,  that  the  important 
knowledge  Ues  imbedded  in  some  obscure  or  esoteric  place,  difl&cult 
of  access  to  the  popular  reader,  so  that  to  his  social  obligation  the  critic 
must  add  a  pedagogical  or  exegetical  duty.s 

But  the  reader,  and  especially  the  pubHc  of  readers,  may  be  indif- 
ferent or  even  hostile  to  the  critic  and  anything  but  grateful  for  his 
assistance.  Sainte-Beuve  was  frequently  deeply  discouraged  by  this — 
so  deeply  that  he  has  words  in  which  he  questions  the  value  of  his  art: 
"II  n'est  pas  invitant  de  s'aller  engager  dans  un  long  combat,  dans  une 
joute  inegale,  non-seulement  avec  la  certitude  d'etre  finalement  vaincu, 
mais  de  plus  avec  I'assurance  qu'on  sera  declare  inferieur  a  tous  les 
moments  du  duel."^  In  such  moods  he  bitterly  resented  the  refusal 
of  the  public  to  be  guided,  as  well  as  the  arrogant  assumption  of  the 
chance  ignoramus,  who  considers  himself  as  good  a  judge  of  literature  as 
the  trained  expert.'  It  must  have  been  in  some  such  mood  that  he  wrote 
the  essay  "De  Feletz  et  de  la  critique  litteraire  sous  Tempire,"*  which 
has  been  made  so  much  of  by  students  as  a  repudiation  by  Sainte-Beuve 

^  This  informational  function  he  himself  exercises,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  the 
Provencal  poet  Jasmin.  "  II  y  a  toute  une  moiti6  de  la  France  qui  rirait  si  nous  avions 
la  pr6tention  de  lui  apprendre  ce  que  c'est  que  Jasmin,  ...  mais  il  y  a  une  autre 
moiti6  ...  qui  a  besoin  ...  qu'on  lui  rappelle  ce  qui  n'est  pas  sorti  de  son  sein,"  etc. 
{Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  309). 

*  "Ce  n'est  pas  une  rehabilitation  que  je  viens  tenter,  mais  il  est  bon  de  mettre 
des  idees  exactes  sous  de  certains  noms  qui  reviennent  souvent"  {ibid.,  IV,  121). 
He  is  going  to  speak  again  of  Saint-Simon's  Mimoires.  "II  ne  pent  6tre  question  ici 
que  de  rappeler  et  de  fixer  avec  nettete  quelques-uns  des  points  principaux  acquis 
d^sormais  et  incontestables "  (ibid.,  XV,  423).  "Je  voulais  seulement,  sur  ce  terrain 
litteraire  qui  est  neutre  ...  amener  les  uns  et  les  autres  k  Hie  plus  justes,"  etc. 
{Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  81). 

5  Cahiers,  p.  72.  ^  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  334. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis;  X,  356.  '  Ibid.,  p.  335. 

s  See  also  p.  76.  *  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  373. 


24      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

of  his  office  as  critic*  He  indubitably  takes  in  this  essay  a  low  view  of 
his  art  and  calling.  He  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  criticism  of  itself  can 
do  nothing  unless  the  public  is  already  friendly,  that  the  critic  is  merely 
the  secretary  of  the  public,  divining  what  the  public  thinks  or  desires 
and  giving  it  that.  Nevertheless  this  is  not  his  normal  doctrine,  rather 
a  mere  houtade  written  in  an  hour  of  discouragement  and  disgust. 

A  summary  of  his  views  of  the  relation  of  the  critic  to  the  reader 
displays  these  points:  he  gives  aid  and  guidance  in  the  selection  of 
things  worth  knowing;  he  purveys  information — knowledge  and  point 
of  view — otherwise  difficult  of  access;  he  prepares  the  mind  of  the  reader 
for  the  reception  of  great  works;  he  regrets  and  resents  the  slowness 
of  the  untrained  reader  to  accept  the  guidance  of  the  expert. 

Finally  the  function  of  criticism  is  to  afford  a  medium  for  the  crea- 
tive faculty  of  the  critic  himself,  to  constitute  that  opportunity  of 
self-expression  indispensable  for  the  born  critic.  Central  in  Sainte- 
Beuve's  critical  theory  was  the  doctrine  that  there  is  a  native  critical 
faculty.  So  important  is  this  doctrine  that  it  will  have  to  be  approached 
from  several  sides  within  this  dissertation.  Criticism,  he  says,  is  a 
temperamental  thing,  a  disposition  of  the  mind,  not  a  profession.^  He 
himself  could  not  avoid  being  a  critic;  it  was  his  call,  his  daemon. 
"Comment  ai-je  eu  des  mon  enfance  une  vocation  litteraire  si  pro- 
noncee?"  His  bent  was,  he  feels,  an  inheritance  from  his  father  and 
"des  I'enfance  j'aimais  les  livres,  les  notices  litteraires,  les  beaux  extraits 
des  auteurs."^  He  tried  to  be  a  poet  but  his  instinct  was  stronger  than 
his  will  or  his  ambition.  Though  he  at  first  regretted  his  failure  as 
poet,  as  he  grew  older  he  became  more  and  more  convinced  that  he  was 
essentially  and  by  nature  a  critic: 

A  mes  yeux,  il  n'est  point  d'honneur  plus  grand  pour  une  intelligence 
humaine  que  de  saisir  et  d'embrasser  rensemble  de  v6rites  qui  constituent  les 
lois  des  nombres  et  des  mondes.  Apres  la  gloire  de  faire  des  d6couverts  ...  il 
n'est  rien  de  plus  honorable,  que  de  se  rendre  compte  directement  de  ces 
d^couvertes  ...  et  de  les  pleinement  comprendre.^ 

This  particular  passage  he  writes  apropos  of  the  pleasure  he  derives 
from  penetrating  the  thoughts  and  sympathizing  in  the  discoveries  of 
the  astronomer  Arago;  and  he  receives  the  same  delight  always  in  the 

'  Gayley  and  Scott,  Literary  Criticism,  p.  35. 

'This  is  discussed  more  fully  infra,  "The  Qualifications  of  the  Critic." 

'  Cahiers,  p.  64. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  92. 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  25 

presence  of  masterpieces  of  pure  literature.  When  asked  why  he 
dehghted  to  study  the  women  of  the  past,  he  repUes; 

Plaisir  desinteresse  de  la  curiosite  critique!  demiere  jouissance  de  ceux 
qui  ont  beaucoup  vecu  dans  leur  chambre,  qui  out  beaucoup  lu  et  peu  agi! 
Quoi  de  plus  doux  et  de  plus  innocent,  en  effet,  que  de  s'occuper  ...  d'une 
existence  disparue,  de  ressaisir  une  figure  nette  et  distincte  dans  le  passe  ... 
de  donner  tons  ses  soins,  px)ur  la  recomposer  et  la  montrer  aux  autres,  etc.^ 

No  one  who  realizes  the  full  significance  of  such  a  statement,  remembering 
that  it  is  the  voice  of  a  born  and  predestined  critic,  could  indorse  for  a 
moment  Balzac's  phrase  applied  to  Sainte-Beuve,  podte  avorti. 

As  a  sort  of  corollary  of  the  doctrine  that  criticism  is  self-expression, 
the  free  and  spontaneous  activity  of  a  native  impulse,  Sainte-Beuve  is 
led  to  declare  that  criticism  is  itself  a  creative  activity:  "La  critique, 
telle  ...  que  je  voudrais  la  pratiquer  est  une  invention  et  une  creation 
perpetuelle."*  He  explains  what  he  means  by  the  phrase  creation 
perpetttelle: 

Le  plus  beau  r61e  pour  le  critique  c'est  quand  il  ne  se  tient  pas  uniquement 
sur  la  defensive,  et  que,  denongant  les  faux  succes  il  ne  sait  pas  moins  discemer 
et  ...  premouvoir  les  legitimes.  C'est  pour  cela  qu'il  y  a  dans  le  critique  un 
poete;  le  poete  a  le  sentiment  plus  vif  des  beautes,  il  hesite  moins  a  les  main- 
tenir.3 

The  critic  is  a  creator  also  in  the  sense  that,  taking  a  passage  or  a  citation 
from  his  author  as  a  point  of  departure,  he  discovers  beauty  and  signifi- 
cance, present  only  by  impUcation  or  even  by  mere  possibility,  which 
it  may  not  have  occurred  to  the  author  to  utter.4  It  is  clear  that  Sainte- 
Beuve  anticipated  in  many  respects  the  more  modern  ideas  of  creative 
criticism. 

"Depuis  que  la  critique  est  nee  ...  elle  n'aime  guere  les  ceuvres  de 
poesie  entourees  d'une  parfaite  lumiere  et  definitives;  elle  n'en  a  que 
faire.  Le  vague,  I'obscur,  le  difiScile,  s'ils  se  combinent  avec  quelque 
grandeur,  sont  plut6t  son  fait."s  Because,  then,  the  critic  can  explain, 
can  create,  can  think  his  own  thoughts  within  the  horizon  of  the  book: 

Nos  idees  sur  les  poetes  ont,  en  effet,  change  presque  entierement,  depuis 
quelques  ann^es  ...  il  s'agit  du  fond  m^me  ...  et  des  principes  habituels 
en  vertu  desquels  on  sent  et  Ton  est  affecte.  ...  Autrefois,  durant  la  periode 
litteraire  reguliere,  dite  classique,  on  estimait  le  meilleur  poete  celui  qui  avait 
compose  I'ceuvre  la  plus  parfaite,  le  plus  beau  poeme,  le  plus  clair,  le  plus 

^  Portraits  LiiUraires,  III,  546.  •*  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  305. 

3  Chateaubriandf  II,  116.  ^  Nouveauxlundis,X.,  sgi. 


26      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

agreable  a  lire.  ...  Aujourd'hui  on  veut  autre  chose.  Le  plus  grand  poete 
pour  nous  est  celui  qui,  dans  ses  oeuvres,  a  donne  le  plus  a  imaginer  et  a  r^ver 
a  son  lecteur.  ...  Le  plus  grand  poete  n'est  pas  celui  qui  a  le  mieux  fait;  c'est 
celui  qui  suggere  le  plus  ...  il  ne  lui  (la  critique)  d^plait  pas  de  sentir  qu'elle 
entre  pour  sa  part  dans  une  creation.^ 

Diderot  set  the  example  in  France  of  this  creative  and  interpretative 
criticism.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  never  met  a  wicked  man  or  read  a 
bad  book.  "Car  si  le  livre  etait  mauvais,  11  le  refaisait,  et  11  Imputait, 
sans  y  songer,  a  Tauteur  quelques  unes  de  ses  propres  Inventions  ^  lui 
meme.  II  trouvait  de  Tor  dans  le  creuset,  comme  Talchimiste,  parcequ'U 
Vy  avalt  mis."* 

The  creative  activities  of  the  critic  find  scope  and  occasion  also  in 
presenting  the  masterpieces  of  the  classics;  there  is  here  legitimate  need 
for  Imaginative  Interpretation,  and  the  classics  must  be,  as  It  were, 
retranslated  Into  the  consciousness  of  each  new  generation.  Salnte- 
Beuve  In  a  very  Illuminating  passage  indicates  the  province  and  limita- 
tions of  such  creative  writing.    He  Is  speaking  of  Don  Quixote: 

Certes  je  suis  trop  critique  pour  nier  les  droits  de  la  critique.  On  peut  de 
loin,  a  distance,  et  en  envisageant  I'ensemble  d'une  ceuvre,  en  embrassant 
d'un  coup  d'ceil  les  consequences  qu'elle  a  eues,  ...  on  peut  y  reconnaitre  autre 
chose  et  plus  que  I'auteur  tout  le  premier  n'6tait  tent6  d'y  voir,  et  plus,  certaine- 
ment,  qu'il  n'a  songe  a  y  mettre.  Ulliad  et  UOdyssee  signifient  et  repr6- 
sentent  pour  nous  assur^ment  plus  de  faits  et  d'idees  a  la  fois  que  pour  les 
chantres  homeriques  qui  les  ont  r^citees  par  branches,  et  pour  ces  populations 
primitives  qui  les  ont  entendues.  Mais  cette  part  legitime  de  pensees  et  de 
reflexions  qu'ajoute  incessamment  I'esprit  humain  aux  monuments  de  son 
heritage  intellectuel,  cette  plus-value  croissante  qui  a  pourtant  ses  llmites, 
doit  6tre  soigneusement  distinguee  de  Toeuvre  elle  meme  en  sol,  bien  que  ceUe-ci 
la  porte  et  en  soit  le  fond.  Elle  ne  doit  point  surtout  ^tre  imputee  et  pr^tee  a 
I'auteur  primitif  par  une  confusion  de  vues  et  une  projection  illusoire  de  per- 
spective. Sachons  bien  que  nous  devenons,  a  la  longue,  des  coop^ateurs,  des 
demi-createurs  dans  ces  types  consacres,  qui,  une  fois  livr6s  a  I'adniiration,  se 
traduisent  et  se  transforment  incessamment.  Sachons  que  nous  y  ajoutons, 
de  notre  chef,  des  intentions  que  I'auteur  n'a  jamais  eues,  comme  par  compen- 
sation de  toutes  celles  qu'il  a  eues  en  effet,  et  qui  nous  echappent.^ 

The  critic  is  demi-crSateur  and  coopercUeur  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
he  is  constantly  reinterpreting  masterpieces  in  the  light  of  new  ideas, 
stating  universal  ideas  in  terms  of  the  modern  consciousness,  bringing 
out  meanings  Implicit  in  the  material  but  of  which  the  original  author  was 
scarcely  conscious,  and  continually  re-thinking  the  material  in  order 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  X,  390. 

'  Causeriei  du  lundi,  III,  300.  » Nouveaux  lundis^  VIII,  36. 


THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  CRITICISM  27 

to  disclose  all  that  the  author  meant  to  put  into  it.  "La  critique  a 
fort  raisonne  de  nos  jours  et  de  tout  temps  sur  la  pensee  fondamentale 
qui  se  montre  ou  se  derobe  dans  Don  Quichotte,  et  il  n'en  pouvait  etre 
autrement;  c'etait  son  droit.  Que  serait  la  critique  si  elle  ne  raisonnait 
pas?"' 

Would  it  not  be  fair  to  say  that  Sainte-Beuve's  ideas  of  the  function 
of  criticism  may,  in  general,  be  summed  up  in  the  two  passages  which 
follow?  "Renouveler  les  choses  connues,  vulgariser  les  choses  neuves: 
un  bon  programme  pour  un  critique."^  "La  critique  pour  moi  ...  c'est 
le  plaisir  de  connaitre  les  esprits,  non  de  les  regenter."^ 

To  conclude,  however,  more  in  detail  and  in  the  order  of  the  material 
offered  in  this  section,  the  functions  of  criticism  in  Sainte-Beuve's 
view  are:  (i)  to  seek  the  truth,  and  as  a  pendant  to  this  (2)  to  destroy 
false  traditions  and  legends,  to  overturn  fallacious  and  fictitious  stand- 
ards, to  expose  illusory  ideals  and  sentiments;  (3)  to  serve  society 
morally  and  artistically  by  cultivating  taste  and  by  maintaining  the 
right  traditions;  (4)  to  serve  the  author  by  actual  reproof  and  advice, 
by  enhancing  his  reputation,  by  introducing  him  to  an  audience,  and 
if  he  be  dead  by  rehabihtating  him  if  he  is  undeservedly  forgotten; 
(5)  to  serve  the  reader  and  the  reading  public  by  giving  them  actual 
information  and  points  of  view  they  could  not  get  for  themselves, 
by  selecting  for  them  their  reading  or  guiding  them  in  a  wise  selection, 
by  preparing  their  minds  for  the  reception  of  what  is  good;  (6)  and  to 
satisfy  the  passion  of  the  critical  genius  for  self-expression  and  artistic 
creation. 

*  Ibid.f  p.  29. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  512.  3  Cahiers,  p.  11. 


III.    SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM 

A  man  of  Sainte-Beuve's  wide  outlook  and  knowledge  of  his  intel- 
lectual age,  of  his  keen  curiosity,  could  not  have  failed  to  feel  the  per- 
vading scientific  movement  of  his  century.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was 
profoundly  interested  in  it  and  felt  that  its  methods  and  principles 
in  the  largest  and  most  detailed  observation  of  facts,  its  emphasis  on 
heredity,  environment,  evolution,  and  on  new  aspects  of  causation  must 
all  be  applied  in  criticism.  He  had  himseK  studied  medicine,  and  he 
said  of  his  training  in  this  subject:  "It  is  to  this  [study  of  medicine] 
that  I  owe  the  philosophical  spirit,  the  love  of  precision  and  of  physio- 
logical reality,  and  whatever  good  methodical  procedure  my  writings, 
even  my  Uterary  writings,  possess!"^  While  we  see  in  this  some  exag- 
geration of  the  value  of  his  studies  in  medicine,  we  may  well  believe  that 
they  helped  to  enhance  in  him  instincts,  powers,  and  habits  that  devel- 
oped his  scientific,  ''physiological"  criticism. 

Sainte-Beuve  was  aware  that  in  adopting  certain  points  of  view  of 
science  he  was  not  conforming  to  the  historic  and  conventional  French 
technique  of  literary  criticism;  he  was  quite  aware  that  he  was  breaking 
with  the  Boileau-La  Harpe  tradition,  and  directing  his  art  into  paths 
which  these  masters  could  not  have  trodden.  He  intended  to  make 
literary  criticism  as  nearly  a  science  as  could  be;  he  endeavored  to  base 
his  opinions  on  facts  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  determine  the  exact  and 
efficient  causes  of  his  phenomena,  all  in  consonance  with  what  he 
regarded  as  the  modern  spirit: 

Nous  sommes  deja  si  loin  de  ces  temps  (ceux  de  Louis  XIV),  que,  pour 
bien  juger  d'un  homme,  d'un  auteur  qui  y  a  vecu,  il  ne  suffit  pas  toujours  de 
lire  ses  productions,  il  faut  encore  les  revoir  en  place,  recomposer  I'ensemble 
de  Tepoque  et  Texistence  entiere  du  personnage.^ 

He  thinks,  it  appears,  that  it  is  no  longer  sufficient,  having  read  a 
book,  to  deliver  one's  verdict  on  it  as  good  or  bad  on  the  strength  of 
4"  one's  internal  response  alone — things  are  not  the  same  in  this  scientific 
age  as  in  other  times — the  unsupported  and  undefended  conclusions  of 
taste  have  lost  authority;  we  must  have  more  than  opinions;  we  must 
have  facts  and  explanations. 

^  Harper,  Sainte-Beuve,  p.  72. 
'  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  453. 

28 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  29 

La  temperature  morale  n'est  plus  la  meme;  le  climat  des  esprits  est  en 
train  de  changer.  D'ou  je  conclus,  ...  que  la  litt6rature  critique  se  trouve  en 
pr6sence  d'un  monde  nouveau  ...  il  y  a  necessite  pour  elle  de  se  renouveler 
d'ailleurs.  ...  Plusiers  ecrivains,  ...  ont  done  senti  le  besoin  de  varier  et 
d'accroitre  leurs  moyens,  de  perfectionner  leurs  instruments  ...  afin  de  pouvoir 
lutter  avec  les  autres  arts^  rivaux  et  pour  satisfaire  a  cette  exigence  de  plus 
en  plus  positive  des  lecteurs  qui  veulent  en  tout  des  resultats.  De  la  I'idee 
qui  est  graduellement  venue  de  ne  plus  s'en  tenir  exclusivement  a  ce  qu'on 
appelait  la  critique  du  gout,  de  creuser  plus  en  avant  qu'on  n'avait  fait  encore 
dans  le  sens  de  la  critique  historique,  et  aussi  d'y  joindre  tout  ce  que  pourrait 
fournir  d'elements  ou  d'inductions  la  critique  dite  naturelle  ou  physiologique.' 

Here  the  word  is  uttered!  La  critique  naturelle  ou  physiologique 
must  be  united  with  the  critique  historique  and  the  critique  de  goUt  pur 
to  make  the  new  synthetic  art  of  the  new  age.  It  is  not  the  office  of 
the  newly  added  elements  to  supplant  the  old,  but  to  give  the  new 
combination  a  firm  foundation,  to  make  of  it  a  science.^  It  is  noticeable 
that  Sainte-Beuve  never  excludes  taste  from  a  share  in  his  judgment; 
but  he  reduces  it  from  the  position  of  supreme  arbiter  to  that  of  one  of 
a  tribunal  of  arbiters. 

The  first  step  in  the  critical  process  is  to  gather  the  facts,  all  the 
facts,  about  an  author  and  his  book.  Then  on  the  basis  of  these  facts 
with  the  aid  of  our  own  literary  feeling  we  may  form  and  deliver  an 
opinion.  Since  we  must  have  the  aid  of  this  personal  literary  feeling, 
criticism  cannot  ever  be  called  a  pure  science  but  must  retain  elements 
of  art  and  demands  the  service  of  an  artist. ^  Nevertheless,  Sainte- 
Beuve  warns  us  repeatedly  that  this  artist  must  bring  to  bear  on  his 
subject-matter  as  much  of  scientific  method  as  he  can;  he  must  reduce 
the  margin  of  the  operation  of  personal  taste.  Such  a  worker  using 
such  a  system  would  be  the  ideal  critic.  "II  y  a  lieu  plus  que  jamais 
aux  jugements  qui  tiennent  au  vrai  gout,  mais  il  ne  s'agit  plus  de  venir 
porter  des  jugements  de  rhetorique.  Aujourd'hui  I'histoire  litteraire 
se  fait  comme  I'histoire  naturelle,  par  des  observations  et  par  des  col- 
lections.s"    Out  of  this  scientific  attitude  toward  criticism  comes  his 

'  Notice,  however,  that  here  he  classifies  criticism  as  one  of  the  arts. 

"  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  69. 

3"Corneille  a  6te,  dans  ces  demi^res  ann6es,  et  il  est  plus  que  jamais,  en  ce 
moment,  Tobject  d'une  quantite  de  travaux  qui  convergent  et  qui  fixeront  ddfinitive- 
ment  la  critique  et  les  jugements  qu'elle  doit  porter  sur  ce  pere  de  notre  th64tre.  Les 
jugements  de  gout  sont  depuis  longtemps  6puis6s  et  ils ne  seront  pas  surpasses"  (ibid., 
VII,  199)- 

4  Cf.  ibid.,  IX,  69;  III,  67.  5  Portraits  litter  aires,  III,  546. 


30      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

distinctive  contribution  to  literary  theory.  "I  am,"  he  says  elsewhere, 
"a  botanist  of  minds";  and  he  felt  that  his  critical  essays  were  all  studies 
of  specimens,  of  which,  however,  because  science  was  not  far  enough 
advanced,  he  was  not  yet  able  to  make  a  satisfactory  classification: 

...  elle  [la  science  du  moraliste]  en  est  aujourd'hui  au  point  ou  la  botanique  en 
6tait  avant  Jussieu,  et  Tanatomie  comparee  avant  Cuvier,  a  I'etat,  pour  ainsi 
dire,  anecdotique.  Nous  faisons  pour  notre  compte  de  simple  monographies, 
nous  amassons  des  observations  de  detail;  mais  j'entrevois  des  liens,  des 
rapports,  et  un  esprit  plus  etendu,  plus  lumineux  et  reste  fin  dans  le  detail, 
pourra  decouvrir  un  jour  les  grandes  divisions  naturelles  qui  repondent  aux 
families  d'esprits.^ 

In  effect,  this  esprit  plus  itendu,  plus  lumineux  will  be  able  to  make 
criticism  approach  the  character  of  a  natural  science. 

Indeed  to  Sainte-Beuve  a  science  of  criticism  was  already  emerging.^ 
The  critic  says  that  he  is  beginning  to  see  "des  liens,  des  rapports," 
and  that  with  the  wide  application  of  the  historical  method  the  con- 
nections will  become  clearer.  The  latter  half  of  the  important  article, 
"Qu'est-ce  qu'un  classique,"^  is  devoted  to  making  a  general  classifica- 
tion of  the  families  of  minds  as  he  saw  them.-*  It  is  only  in  modern  times 
and  under  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  scientific  investigation  and  in  the 
light  of  our  consequently  wider  knowledge  that  classification  so  definite 
has  become  possible  or  conceivable. 

It  was  Chateaubriand  who  inaugurated  in  France  the  type  of 
comparative-historical  criticism,  and  he, was  followed  by  Saint-Marc 
Girardin  and  others.^  Of  his  own  method  Sainte-Beuve  says:  "J'aime, 
au  reste,  a  marier  ces  productions,  par  quelque  cote  parentes,  bien 
plutot  qu'a  les  opposer:  La  Bible  de  Royaumont,  le  Tilemaque,  Rollin, 
rHomire  de  Mme  Dacier,  me  paraissent  aller  bien  ensemble  pour  la 
couleur."^  This  describes  the  comparative-historical  aspect  of  that 
scientific  criticism  which  Sainte-Beuve  desired  to  found.  He  regards 
this  point  of  view  as  a  distinctive  contribution  of  his  own  age.    It  is  a 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  17. 

^  We  are  just  arriving,  he  thinks,  by  the  use  of  the  historical  method  at  a  point 
where  we  can  really  judge.  "Les  critiques  (d'autrefois)  ...  ne  s'informaient  pas 
assez  k  I'avance  de  tout  ce  qui  pouvait  donner  a  leur  jugement  des  garanties  d'exacti- 
tude  parfaite  et  de  v6rit6"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  375). 

3  Ibid.,  Ill,  38  ff.,  dating  from  1850. 

^This  correspondence  in  ideas  between  the  "Chateaubriand"  article  of  1862 
{Nouveaux  lundis,  III)  and  the  "Qu'est-ce  qu'un  classique  "  article  of  1850  {Causeries 
du  lundi.  III)  is  a  clear  indication  of  the  unity  of  his  thought  during  this  period. 

5  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  12.  ^  Ibid.,  IX,  491. 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  31 

step  toward  the  explanation  of  an  author  and  his  book  on  the  basis 
of  fact.  It  will  help  to  insure  us  against  being  made  the  dupe  of  an 
unfounded  and  extravagant  admiration,  and  will  save  the  author  from 
becoming  the  victim  of  an  ill-founded  hostility: 

...  qu'y  a-t-il  de  plus  legitime  que  de  profiter  des  notions  qu'on  a  sous  la  main 
pour  sortir  definitivement  d'une  certaine  admiration  trop  textuelle  a  la  fois 
at  trop  abstraite  et  pour  ne  pas  se  contenter  meme  d'une  certaine  description 
generale  d'un  siecle  et  d'une  epoque,  mais  pour  serrer  de  plus  pres,  d'aussi 
pres  que  possible  ...  I'analyse  des  caracteres  d'auteurs  aussi  bien  que  celle  des 
productions  ?^ 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  explain  the  book — one  must  go  back  of  that  and 
explain  the  author.  This  notion  of  the  obligation  to  study  the  author 
behind  the  book  is  also,  Sainte-Beuve  says,  a  product  of  his  own  century. 
He  traces  in  a  sentence  the  history  of  this  idea  in  France.  Mme  de  Stael 
gave  it  currency 'in  her  De  la  litter ature;  certain  of  the  journalist  critics, 
notably  those  on  the  Glohe^  and  later  M.  Villemain,  follow  her  lead. 
Nowadays  "on  essaye  de  faire  un  pas  de  plus  et  toutes  les  fois  qu'on  le 
pent,  d'interroger  directement,  d'examiner  I'individu-talent  dans  son 
education,  dans  sa  culture,  dans  sa  vie,  dans  ses  origines."^ 

More  recent  critics  have  been  more  thoroughgoing  than  Mme  de 
Stael,  who  merely  outlined  the  method.  Among  those  who  followed 
on  the  road  faintly  blazed  by  her,  Sainte-Beuve  mentions  Michelet, 
Renan,  Taine,  Eugene  Heron;  and  he  adds:  '*J'y  suismoi-meme  entre 
depuis  bien  des  annees,  et  en  affichant  si  peu  d'intention  systematique, 
que  beaucoup  de  mes  lecteurs  ou  de  mes  critiques  ont  suppose  que 
j'allais  purement  au  hasard  et  selon  ma  fantaisie."^  He  himself  espe- 
cially developed  the  path  of  biographical  criticism.  But  as  he  here 
unmistakably  implies,  he  did  not  proceed  au  hasard  or  selon  sa  fantaisie; 
and,  though  we  may  find  no  hard-and-fast  method,  we  shall  expect  to 
find,  to  use  Taine's  distinction,  a  definite  critical  procedure. 

It  would  seem  clear  from  the  foregoing  statements  chosen  from  many 
of  Uke  tenor  that  Sainte-Beuve  reaUzed  the  need  of  a  scientific  criticism; 
that  he  recognized  certain  aspects  of  it  in  recent  and  contemporary 
critics;  that  he  outlined  its  aspects  or  qualities;  that  he  believed  him- 
self to  be  an  exponent  of  it.  The  peculiarly  "scientific"  principle  of  his 
critical  performance  we  now  know  had  to  do  with  the  gathering  and 
sifting  of  data  and  with  the  placing  of  the  author  and  the  book  in  the 
proper  genus.    This  we  shall  follow  in  detail  in  this  section.    The  more 

'  Nauveaux  lundis,  IX,  71. 

» Ihid.  3  Ihid. 


32       SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

peculiarly  aesthetic  critical  activities  that  succeeded  these  naturalistic 
steps  in  his  total  process  will  occupy  us  later. 

In  the  article  of  1862'  on  Chateaubriand  Sainte-Beuve  gives  a  detailed 
account  of  the  side  of  his  work  we  are  now  to  study.  This  authoritative 
account  we  will  follow  in  detail,  reinforcing  it  with  striking  passages  of 
confirmation  or  amplification  from  sources  other  than  the  "Chateau- 
I  briand."^  As  a  text  for  the  whole  discussion  the  following  passage 
might  be  taken:  "Tout  a  son  prix  aux  yeux  de  la  critique  qui  sent  I'art 
comme  I'expression  presque  directe  de  la  nature  et  de  la  vie."^  Thus 
Sainte-Beuve  sees  his  first  task  in  finding  out  all  he  can  about  life,  that 
—  life  of  which  the  book  is  the  living  expression.  We  shall  try  to  repro- 
duce in  our  presentation  of  Sainte-Beuve's  analysis  the  thoroughly 
logical  order  of  his  procedure. 

First,  he  says  the  work  of  art  cannot  be  separated  from  its  author — 
"tel  arbre,  tel  fruit" — consequently  the  first  requirement  toward  the 
appreciation  of  a  book  is  the  understanding  of  its  author.^  One  may  like 
or  dislike  a  book,  but  one  cannot  fairly  and  finally  judge  it  without  a 
knowledge  of  its  sources — the  author  and  his  life.  Inevitably,  then,  the 
study  of  literature  leads  to  the  study  of  psychology .s  There  are,  of 
course,  cases  where  the  complete  study  of  an  author  is  impossible — the 
great  writers  of  antiquity,  for  example,  who  appear  to  us  as  titanic 
torsos  and  scattered  limbs,  and  whom  therefore  we  can  only  partially 
know.  Even  in  this  case,  however,,  we  must  take  all  the  more  pains  to 
gather  all  that  we  can  lay  our  hands  on  in  the  way  of  facts.  In  the  case 
of  the  moderns  we  can,  of  course,  get  at  the  essential  circumstances  of 
their  lives  and  environment.  -"La  biographie  bien  comprise  et  bien 
maniee  est  un  instrument  sur  pour  initier  a  I'histoire  des  hommes  et  des 
temps,  meme  les  plus  eloignes  de  nous."^  Sainte-Beuve  gives  in  the 
following  passage  an  impressive  summary  of  his  scientific-biographical 
method: 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  15  flf. 

'  There  are  several  articles  which  are  full  of  this  naturalistic  criticism  and  from 
which  the  most  of  the  supporting  quotations  are  taken.  They  are:  (a)  "De  la 
tradition  en  litt6rature,"  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV  (1858),  2;  (b)  article  on  Deschanel's 
Essai  de  critique  naturelle  in  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  62  ff.;  (c)  on  Taine's  Histoire  de  la 
literature  anglaise  in  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII  (i 864) .  Only  items  from  Nouveaux  lundis, 
III,  15  ff.,  come  from  the  article  "Chateaubriand." 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  289. 

4  "Les  d^fauts  et  les  qualit6s  du  livre  s'expUquent  trSs-bien  par  la  manifire  dont 
il  fut  compos6,  et  par  la  nature  d'esprit  de  I'^crivain"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  207). 

5  "L*6tude  morale,"  as  he  often  calls  it.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  289. 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  33 

"Si  Ton  connaissait  bien  la  race  (physiologiquement),  on  aurait  un 
grand  jour  sur  la  qualite  secrete  et  essentielle  des  esprits;  mais  le  plus 
souvent  la  race  est  obscure  et  derobee."^ 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  he  would  start  with  the  most  fundamental 
things,  studying  the  writer  first  "dans  son  pays  natal,  dans  sa  race." 
It  need  not  be  more  than  mentioned  that  Sainte-Beuve  uses  the  term 
"race"  to  designate  a  national,  not  an  ethnical,  stock,'  although  there 
seems  to  be  some  lack  of  clarity  on  this  point  in  his  thinking.  The 
adjectives  he  uses  are  purely  national,  even  regional — the  English  race, 
the  French,  the  ItaUan,  even  the  Breton  and  Gascon — yet  he  also  states 
that  if  we  know  a  race  physiologically  we  could  determine  mental  char- 
acteristics, a  statement  which  seems  to  concern  an  ethnic  unit.  But 
Sainte-Beuve  did  not,  to  the  best  of  my  belief,  make  any,  certainly  not 
a  consistent  distinction  between  racial  and  national.  The  race  of  a 
writer,  as  he  used  the  word  race,  will  account,  on  a  purely  physical, 
even  physiological,  basis,  for  many  of  his  essential  quaUties.  A  French- 
man qud  Frenchman  has  certain  characteristics  that  predetermine  in 
him  many  fundamental  quahties  as  writer,  as  reader,  and  as  critic.^ 
This  element  of  race  is  often  hidden  and  elusive,  "une  racine  obscure 
et  derobee";  nevertheless  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  genius  of  each 
country: 

Ne  demandons  pas  tout  a  fait  a  chaque  pays  les  memes  precedes;  Virgile 
nous  I'a  dit,  Nee  verro  terrae  ferre  omnes  omnia  possunt.  Chaque  terroir 
a  son  fruit  auquel  il  se  complalt.  ...  Assemblons,  s'il  se  peut,  tous  les  fruits 
dans  notre  collecte  finale,  et  n'en  ecartons  aucun;  mais  que  chaque  nation 
conserve,  dans  cette  6mulation  commune,  le  coin  de  genie  qui  lui  est  propre.* 

Another  fundamental  thing  of  equal  importance  with  his  race  in 
determining  and  conditioning  an  author  is  his  epoch.  "Nul  exemple," 
he  says  of  Cervantes,  "ne  me  parait  plus  propre  a  montrer  a  quel  point 
les  hommes  meme  energiques,  de  trempe  et  de  volonte  sont  assujettis  et 
soumis  au  milieu  oil  ils  vivent,"  etc.s  Only  certain  ages  could  have 
produced  certain  books  and  they  could  have  produced  no  other  kind 
of  books.     So  "pour  bien  juger  des  hommes  de  ce  temps  ...  il  importe  ... 

'  Cahiers,  p.  70. 

'  "Les  Francais,  eL  travers  toutes  les  formes  de  gouvemment  et  de  societe  qu'ils 
traversent,  continuent,  dit-on,  d'etre  les  memes,  d'offrir  les  m^mes  traits  principaux 
de  caractere"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  i). 

3  Mme  Necker  is  not  French,  and  so  he  says  it  is  hard  to  understand  and  treat 
of  her  {ibid.,  IV,  173). 

<  Nouveaux  lundis,  XI,  182.  s  Ibid.,  VIII,  38. 


34       SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

de  se  bien  rendre  compte  du  courant  general,  immense,  qui  entrainait 
alors  la  nation";^  for,  "Oui,  t6t  ou  tard  le  milieu  s'impose!  telle  scene, 
tels  acteurs !  "^  Since,  then,  certain  men  and  certain  ideas  are  the  product 
of  certain  centuries  we  must  as  one  of  the  first  steps  study  these  centuries. 

After  indicating  these  steps,  the  study  of  the  author's  race  and 
native  country,  and  of  his  epoch,  Sainte-Beuve  makes  a  digression,^  in 
which  occur  more  than  one  of  those  strange  shifts  of  focus  often  found  in 
his  thinking.  He  seems  to  be  overtaken  by  a  misgiving  that  what  he 
has  said  is  too  strong  or  too  narrow.  In  many  cases  these  misgivings 
take  the  form  of  allowances  or  reservations  more  or  less  sweeping;  in 
other  cases  they  amount  to  irreconcilable  contradictions.  The  digres- 
sion that  we  have  now  come  to  in  the  Chateaubriand  article  is  to  the 
effect  that  criticism,  no  matter  how  exact  it  may  be,  will  in  some  respects 
always  remain  an  art,  though  perhaps  only  temporarily  not  a  science. 
With  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  exercise  of  limitless  patience,  after  vast 
amounts  of  constatation,  of  just  observing  and  recording  facts,  the  Jussieu 
of  physiological  criticism  may  arrive — he  who  may  be  able  to  determine 
with  completeness  and  exactness  the  families  of  intellects  and  the  prin- 
ciples for  their  study.  We  are  in  a  stage  of  the  mere  recording  of  facts; 
only  at  some  later  day  will  come  the  person  who  will  definitely  develop 
criticism  into  a  science. 

Moreover — another  misgiving — there  must  always  be  in  criticism 
some  admixture  of  art  because  the  doctrine  of  causation  will  always  break 
down  in  the  presence  of  mind,  because  in  their  intellectual  activities 
men  possess  ce  qu'on  nomme  la  liberie,  defying  analysis  and  defeating 
expectation.  No  matter  how  logically  we  have  constructed  our  chain 
of  cause  and  effect,  this  liberie  may  break  it.  This  constitutes  the  factor 
of  individuality,  and  no  closeness  or  fulness  of  study  of  his  ancestry  and 
surroundings,  of  his  race,  milieu  el  momenl  can  finally  account  for  a 
man's  genius,  for  that  something  in  him  which  no  other  man,  though  he 

^Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  334.  Cf.  "on  a  besoin  a  chaque  instant,  quand  on 
6tudie  aujourd'hui  RoUin,  de  se  reporter  k  cette  situation  d'alentour,"  etc.  (ibid.,  VI, 
264).  "Pour  bien  appr6cier  et  go<iter,  comme  je  le  fais,  cette  correspondance  de 
Sismondi,  il  faut  absolument  se  d^placer  un  peu,  se  figurer  la  situation  des 
correspondants  telle  qu'elle  6tait,  les  revoir  dans  leur  monde  et  k  leur  point  de  vue" 
(Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  49).    See  also  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  540;  VIII,  116. 

'Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  323.  A  man  cannot  with  impunity  be  different  from  the 
essential  product  of  his  age.  "C'est  un  malheur  en  tout  cas  pour  un  homme  d'esprit 
et  de  talent  de  prendre  ainsi  k  contre-sens  I'^poque  dont  il  est  contemporain,  et  le 
r^gne  dont  il  serait  un  serviteur  naturel  et  distingu6"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  399). 

3  Nouveaux  lundis.  III,  17. 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  35 

come  out  of  the  same  circumstances  of  time  and  place,  possesses.  At 
this  point,  says  Sainte-Beuve  elsewhere,  begins  the  weakening  of 
la  critique  physiologique: 

^  Quelque  soin  qu'on  mette  a  penetrer  ou  a  expliquer  le  sens  des  oeuvres,  ...  . 
il  y  aura  toujours  una  certaine  partie  inexpUquee,  inexplicable,  celle  en  quoi  L 
consiste  le  don  individual  du  genia;  at  bian  qua  ca  genia  evidemmant  n'opera 
point  an  Tair  ni  dans  la  vida,  qu'il  soit  at  qu'il  doiva  etra  dans  un  rapport 
axacta  avac  las  conditions  da  tout  genre  ...  on  aura  toujours  una  place  tres 
suffisanta  ...  o^  logar  ca  principal  ressort,  ce  motaur  inconnu,  le  centre  et  le 
foyer  da  I'inspiration  superiaura,  ou  da  la  volonte,  la  monada  inaxprimable.' 

The  genius,  the  irreducible  personality  of  an  author,  cannot  be  perceived 
by  the  intellect,  nor  explained  by  any  analytical  process;  it  must  be  JL.  j,^' 
felt  by  the  critical  faculty,  itself  an  irreducible  intuition.  The  critic 
who  has  not  this  faculty  cannot  write  a  truly  discerning  work — la  monade 
inexprimable  escapes  him.  In  this  quarter,  Sainte-Beuve  says  in  another 
place,  we  will  find  the  failure  of  Taine's  Histoire  de  la  liUerature  anglaise^ 
which,  though  a  great  book,  is  not  trustworthy  as  literary  criticism 
because  Taine  does  not  succeed  in  getting  at  the  distinctive  qualities 
of  genius,  trying  as  he  does  to  explain  all  the  men  and  the  whole  mai^ 
merely  on  the  basis  of  race,  milieu^  et  momenta  Every  author,  even 
when  not  a  great  genius,  is  unique  in  the  world.  **La  nature  n'a  fait 
qu'une  fois  un  Shakespeare."^  In  another  place  Sainte-Beuve  com- 
pares the  mind  of  the  race  to  a  great  river  in  an  image  whose  details 
suggest  unmistakably  that  he  was  a  scientific  thinker,  a  Darwinian,  a 
pre-Bergsonian,  as  one  might  say,  in  his  doctrine  pf  the  flux.  But  he 
is  careful  to  point  out  certain  features  in  which  the  analogy  B^etween  the 
river  and  human  history  fails: 

"L'esprit  humain,"  dites-vous,  "coule  avec  las  6v^nements  comme  un 
fleuve"  ...  je  dirai  hardimant  non  en  ce  sens  qu'a  la  difference  d'un  fleuve 
I'esprit  humain  n'est  point  compose  d'una  quantite  de  gouttas  semblables.  II  y  <■ 
distinction  da  qualite  dans  bian  das  gouttas.  ...  Et  an  general,  il  n'est  qu'une 
^me,  une  forme  particuliera  d'asprit  pour  faira  tal  ou  tel  chef-d'oeuvre.  ... 
Supposaz  un  grand  talent  da  moins,  supposaz  la  moule  ou  miaux  la  miroir 
magiqua  d'un  saul  vrai  poete  brise  dans  la  barcaau  a  sa  naissance,  il  ne  s'en 
rencontrara  plus  jamais  un  autre  qui  soit  exactement  le  mama  ni  qui  en  ^ 
tianna  liau.    II  n'y  a  de  chaqua  vrai  poete  qu'un  exemplaira.^ 

^  Ibid.,  EX,  70.  "  Ibid.,  VIII,  66  ff. 

3  Ibid.,  Ill,   230.    He  means   this  not   to  contradict  but  to  supplement  his 
family-of-minds  theory. 

4  Ibid.,  VIII,  86.  ^ 


36      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

\  It  is  the  affair  of  the  critic  to  get  at  this  unique  personality — "grain  of 
^  originahty."  In  view  of  the  fact  that  genius  transcends  the  laws  of 
inheritance  and  environment  and  defies  the  ordinary  working  of  causa- 
.  tion,  and  the  fact  that  the  critical  faculty  is  also  a  somewhat  personal 
and  unaccountable  gift,  criticism,  thinks  Sainte-Beuve  in  the  Cahiers, 
must  always  remain  an  art,  documented,  to  be  sure,  and  based  on  scien- 
tific principles,  but  in  the  main  an  art,  demanding  the  services  of  a 
talent  pecuUar  in  the  critic,  as  poetry  demands  a  poet  and  philosophy  a 
philosopher.    The  ideal  critic  Sainte-Beuve  thus  describes: 

...  quelqu'un  qui  ait  ce  genre  d 'esprit,  cette  facilite  pour  entendre  lesgroupes, 
les  families  litteraires,  qui  les  distingue  presqu'a  premiere  vue;  qui  en  saisisse 
I'esprit  et  la  vie;  dont  ce  soit  veritablement  la  vocation;  quelqu'un  de  propre 
a  etre  un  bon  naturaliste  dans  ce  champ  si  vaste  des  esprits.^ 

Thus  far  the  digression  in  the  Chateaubriand  article;  Sainte-Beuve 
now  resumes  his  main  theme.  The  studies  in  the  race,  the  epoch,  and  in 
the  larger  natural  and  social  background,  while  of  essential  impor- 
tance, make,  as  it  were,  the  frame  for  the  portrait  of  the  man,  which  the 
critic  now  proceeds  to  paint. 
^^  The  next  step,  then,  is  to  look  into  his  immediate  surroundings,  the 
"purely  biographical  relationships." 

II  faut  etudier  tout  individu  distingue,  dans  la  mere,  dans  la  soeur,  dans 
le  frere,  dans  les  enfants  m^me,  il  s'y  retrouve  des  lineaments  essentiels  qui 
sont  souvent  masques  dans  celui  qui  les  combine  en  lui  et  les  rassemble  ... 
le  f ond  se  retrouve  plus  a  nu  et  a  I'etat  simple  dans  les  parents." 

In  his  immediate  family  are  to  be  found  many  of  the  elements  that 
enter  into  the  great  man,  to  be  separated  out  and  shown  "plus  a  nu  et  a 
r6tat  simple."^  One  must  then  study  his  parents,  more  particularly 
^his  mother  ("all  great  men,"  says  Sainte-Beuve,  "have  had  remark- 
able mothers");  one  must  look  at  his  sisters,  his  brothers,  and  lastly, 
at  his  children.4  Having  thus  completed  the  circle  of  kinship,  one  takes 
up  the  life  of  the  man  himself,  his  childhood,  his  education,  and  then — a 
matter  of  supreme  importance — "le  premier  milieu,  le  premier  groupe 

» CaUerSy  p.  70. 

"  Ibid.  But  he  contradicts  his  own  theory  when  he  refuses  to  follow  Michelet 
in  studying  the  father  and  mother  of  Le  Due  de  Bourgogne,  saying:  "Les  lois  qui 
pr6sident  aux  transmissions  h6r6ditaires  sont  k  peuie  entrevues,  bien  loin  d'6tre  de 
tout  point  6claircies;  le  seront-elles  jamais?"  {Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  116). 

3 Unless  otherwise  indicated,  these  i(!eas  are  from  the  article  "Chateaubriand," 
Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  18  £E. 

4  Ibid.,  Ill,  21. 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  37 

d'amis  et  de  contemporains,"  which  he  frequented,  among  which  he 
first  found  himself,  from  the  midst  of  which  he  brought  forth  the  first 
blossom  of  his  talent.  Every  great  writer  retains  to  the  end  of  his  career 
the  records  of  these  early  associations;  the  friends  of  that  period  are 
likely  to  remain  the  friends  of  a  Hfetime;  the  enemies,  his  lifelong 
enemies.  This  first  group  to  which  the  youthful  author  is  likely  to 
belong  (although  "les  tres  grands  individus  se  passent  de  groupe")  is 
not  a  fraternity  or  any  other  formal  association;  it  is  ^^'association 
naturelle,  et  comme  spontan^de  jeunes  esprits  et  de  jeunes  talents  non 
pas  precisement  semblables  et  de  la  meme  famille,  mais  de  la  m^me 
volee,  du  meme  printemps,  eclos  sous  le  meme  astre,  et  qui  se  sentent 
nes  avec  des  varietes  de  gout  et  de  vocation,  pour  une  oeuvre  commune."^ 
Such  a  groupe  was  that  of  Boileau,  La  Fontaine,  and  Moliere;  such  that 
of  the  first  Romantic  Cenacle;  another  was  the  critical  circle  that 
gathered  around  Jeffrey  and  the  Edinburgh  Review;  Sainte-Beuve  names 
other  similar  groups. 

At  this  point  in  the  "Chateaubriand"  article  occurs  another  digres- 
sion to  this  effect:  When  the  critic  examines  a  work  in  the  light  of  facts 
of  this  nature,  when,  in  the  words  of  Sainte-Beuve,  *'he  becomes  a  disciple 
of  Bacon  in  Uterary  history,"  he  is  not  so  likely  to  be  taken  in,  admirer 
de  coti,  and  inventer  des  heauies  a  faux,  as  he  is  if  he  confines  himself  to 
the  judgments  of  pure  rhetoric.  And  yet,  he  adds  with  a  characteristic 
vacillation,  this  sort  of  judgment  has  its  place: 

II  est  dangereux  de  s 'engager  trop  avant  dans  ces  minuties  d'examen 
interlin6aire  [he  has  just  been  criticizing  in  detail  the  style  of  Bossuet]  et  d'en 
pretendre  rien  conclure  sur  les  precedes  du  genie;  il  y  faudrait,  en  tout  cas 
apporter  un  tact  que  tout  le  monde  n'a  pas.  Tout  grammairien  n'est  pas  un 
critique.' 

Here  the  fair  impUcation  is  that,  though  dangerous,  such  criticism  is 
legitimate  and  needful.  In  another  passage  we  find  this:  "Ce  genre 
de  critique  de  detail  me  plait  peu — mais  ..."  and  he  proceeds  with 
a  veritable  orgy  of  purely  rhetorical  criticism.^  "Je  ne  renonce  pas  S.  -4" 
Quintillien,  je  le  circonscris,"^  he  writes,  meaning  that  he  does  not  dis- 
approve of  the  criticizing  of  style  and  rhetoric  but  that  he  rather  limits 
its  exercise  and  gives  it  a  secondary  place.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Sainte- 
Beuve  placed  more  emphasis  on  purely  aesthetic  criticism  than  these 
passages  would  lead  us  to  suppose,  as  will  appear  in  the  section  of  this 

» Ibid.,  p.  21.  3  Ibid.,  VII,  358. 

'IHd.,  II,  33^'  ^IHd.,  Ill,  24. 


i 


38       SAINTE'BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

dissertation  that  deals  with  that  side  of  his  thought.  In  a  measure 
he  continues  the  French  tradition  of  criticism  which  before  the  nineteenth 
century  had  been  mainly  rhetorical  and  stylistic. 

Again  Sainte-Beuve  takes  up  the  thread  of  his  main  discussion: 
We  have  made  our  study,  he  says,  of  the  young  author's  groupe.  The 
next  step  that  will  greatly  reward  us  is  to  study  him  at  the  propitious 
moment  of  his  first  success;  this  takes  him  before  he  shall  have  acquired 
any  mannerisms  or  aUen  peculiarities,  when  his  talent  is  at  its  simplest. 
The  second  auspicious  moment — a  very  instructive  one  for  criticism — 
is  "I'heure  ou  il  se  gate/ou  il  se  corrompt,^oii  il  dechoit,  ou  il  devie."' 
At  this  time  the  excess  of  the  writer's  virtue,  the  exaggeration  of  his 
excellence  becomes  a  fault,  and  yet  through  its  very  abuse  one  may 
discover  his  peculiar  merit.  This  moment  of  initial  dissolution  marks 
the  end  of  a  career,  and  it  is  well  for  an  author  to  realize  that  he  is 
declining.  A  normal  career  is  fifteen  years,  though  some  men  extend 
their  successful  activities  through  twice  that  period. 

We  must  study  our  author,  man  or  woman,  not  only  mentally  but 
physically,  even  physiologically,  and  this  study  will  generally  yield 
us  explanations  of  things  otherwise  inexplicable.*  Concerning  his  pri- 
vate life  we  must  ask  questions,  some  of  which  at  first  blush  seem 
impertinent  in  both  senses  of  the  word: 

Que  pensait-il  en  religion?  ...  Comment  6tait-il  affect6  du  spectacle  de 
la  nature  ?  Comment  se  comportait-il  sur  I'article  des  femmes,  de  I'argent,  ... 
Itait-il  riche?  etait-il  pauvre?  Quel  6tait  son  regime?  Quelle  6tait  sa 
maniere  journaliere  de  vivre.  P^  ...  Enfin  quel  6tait  son  vice  ou  son  faible  ?  tout 
homme  en  a  un.-* 

"When  you  have  to  criticize  a  woman,"  he  says,  "even  a  model  of 
saintliness,  two  or  three  inevitable  questions  present  themselves:  Was 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  26. 

»  "Ce  n'est  plus  par  la  logique,  par  I'mduction,  par  la  transformation  progressive 
des  id6es  qu'on  pent  expliquer  les  variations  de  l'abb6  de  La  Mennais.  ...  Ilyaeuenlui 
solution  de  continuit6  dans  la  region  de  I'intelligence;  et  c'est  par  la  physiologie,  par 
le  temperament  qu'il  le  faut  expliquer"  (Causeries  du  hmdi,  XI  [1836],  450).  Sainte- 
Beuve  remained  of  this  opinion,  though  he  wrote  this  passage  early. 

3  Taine  has  given  a  description  of  the  daily  Ufe  of  Pope.  "Ce  n'est  pas  moi," 
says  Sainte-Beuve,  "qui  bUmerai  un  critique  de  nous  indiquer,  m6me  avec  detail, 
la  physiologie  de  son  auteur,  et  son  degr6  de  bonne  ou  mauvaise  sant6,  influant  cer- 
tainement  sur  son  moral  et  sur  son  talent,"  etc.  {Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  105). 

*  Ibid.,  Ill,  28.  This  theory  of  the  essential  vice  is  an  important  and  recurring 
idea  with  Sainte-Beuve.  Cf .  "  Nous  avons  tous  un  faible  et  un  travers,  et  ce  travers  ..., 
tr^s  sensible  dans  notre  personne,  se  reproduit  dans  nos  Merits,"  etc.  {ibid., 
p.  102). 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  39 

she  pretty?  Did  she  ever  fall  in  love?  What  was  the  determining 
motive  of  her  conversion  ? '" 

The  answers  to  these  and  other  questions  like  them  would  enable 
the  critic  to  see  his  author  in  the  circumstances  that  led  him  to  write 
as  he  did.  "Pour  bien  juger  Guy  Patin  il  le  faut  voir  en  son  cadre,  en 
sa  maison,  dans  son  etude,  ou  cabinet."^ 

Inevitably  the  critic  will  go  on  to  seek  light  on  the  author's  per- 
sonaUty  and  character  "dans  leurs  livres  d'abord  et  aussi  dans  le 
temoignage  des  contemporains  dignes  de  foi."^  Out  of  this  practice 
of  taking  the  evidence  of  contemporaries  grew  what  one  might  term  the 
anecdotal  habit  of  Sainte-Beuve,  of  the  dangers  of  which  as  well  as  of 
whose  service  he  was  quite  aware.^  Once  this  habit  is  acquired  one  is 
likely,  he  says,  to  degenerate  into  the  telling  of  anecdotes  for  mere 
amusement,  at  any  risk  of  triviaUty  or  disillusionment,  at  times  merely 
for  the  gratification  of  an  unwarranted  curiosity.  Sainte-Beuve  claimed 
that  these  disillusioning,  disenchanting  stories,  however,  were  serviceable, 
saving  one  from  being  made  a  dupe,  preventing  false  idealization  and 
idolizing.  His  belief  in  the  usefulness  of  such  material  leads  him  into 
the  recital  of  some  anecdotes  which  are  all  but  scurrilous  and  which 
cannot  justify  themselves  by  the  Ught  that  they  throw  on  the  subject 
in  hand.s  In  his  eagerness  to  avoid  illusion  and  undue  idealization  he 
has  plainly  fallen  into  the  opposite  fault.*^ 

The  critic  has  made  the  necessary  observations,  has  in  hand  all  the 
necessary  data.  It  is  now  the  business  of  criticism  after  the  analogy 
of  chemistry  to  reduce  the  writer,  if  it  be  possible,  to  a  formula.    There 

*  Ibid.f  I,  213.  "  Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  116. 

^Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  363.  See  also,  "La  litt^rature  ici  (i  propos  de  Mme 
d*0rI6ans)  n'a  autre  chose  h,  faire  qu'^  enregistrer  les  t6moignages  des  contemporains 
et,  en  quelque  sorte  ^  les  d^couper  au  milieu  des  pages  d'autrefois"  {Causeries  du 
lundi,  VI,  321).  See  also,  "L'historien,  lorsqu'il  a  pour  guide  dans  la  suite  du  r6cit 
un  homme  d'6tat  qui  est  trSs-int6ress6  dans  les  principales  actions  et  qui  les  raconte, 
doit  done,  ^  chaque  pas,  s'6clairer,  s'il  se  peut,  de  t^moignages  diff^rents  et  con- 
tradictoires.  Le  moraliste,  sans  n6gliger  I'occasion  du  contr61e  lorsqu'elle  se  pr^sente, 
peut  plus  ais6ment  s'en  tenir  aux  discours  m^mes  du  personnage"  {ihid.,  VIII,  155). 

<  He  quotes  an  anecdote  about  Sully  and  adds,  "Une  telle  anecdote,  qui  n'a  aucun 
rapport  prochain  ni  61oign6  avec  les  actes  publics  de  Sully  et  qui  ne  saurait  6tre  con- 
trdl6e,  est  indigne  d'6tre  recueillie  par  un  historien,"  etc.  {ibid.,  p.  139). 

s  Cf.  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  142.  Babbitt  {Masters  oj  Modern  French  CriticisMf 
p.  156)  cites  several  of  such  anecdotes. 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  28;  cf .  also  ibid.,  pp.  40  ff.,  where  he  says  that  it  is  wrong 
for  the  critic  to  abuse  confidences. 


-i 


40       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

are  certain  words  which  ahnost  inevitably  present  themselves  to  the  mind 
when  a  given  person  is  to  be  weighed  and  summed  up.  "Tachons  de 
trouver  le  nom  caracteristique  d'un  chacun  et  qu'il  porte  grave 
moitie  au  front  moitie  au  dedans  du  coeur,  mais  ne  nous  batons 
pas  de  le  lui  donner."^  He  has  himself  defined  Chateaubriand  as  "an 
Epicurean  with  a  Catholic  imagination."  "Cousin  est  un  etourdi  de 
genie."^  "Guizot  etait  un  grand  professeur  d'histoire."^  But  this  is  a 
very  hazardous  critical  process.  "En  rassemblant  ces  divers  faits  un 
peu  disparates,  j'ai  senti  plus  d'une  fois  combien  le  caractere  d'un 
homme  est  compHque,  et  avec  quel  soin  on  doit  eviter,  si  Ton  veut  etre 
vrai,  de  le  simplifier  par  systeme."^  On  this  ground  Sainte-Beuve 
objects  to  Taine's  calling  Shakespeare  "  I'imagination  ou  la  passion  pure," 
for  such  a  definition  is  too  extreme  a  simplification,  too  complete  a 
generalization,  and  is  not  warranted  by  the  special  facts.s 

On  craint  toujours,  quand  on  generalise,  d'etre  trop  absolu;  la  v6rit6  est 
complexe,  et  rarement  peut-on,  en  tout  ce  qui  est  vivant  ou  historique,  la 
r^sumer  et  la  formuler  d'un  mot,  sans  qu'il  faille  y  apporter  aussitdt  des 
correctifs  et  des  explications  qui  radoucissent  et  la  modifient.* 

This  looks  like  a  contradiction  of  his  doctrine  of  the  formula  of  the 
few  necessary  words.  But  the  reconciUation  is  not  far  to  seek.  What 
Sainte-Beuve  meant  by  these  "appellations  vraies  et  necessaires"  was 
not  mere  specious  epigrams,  but  summaries  of  the  essential  quaUties 
of  the  particular  author.  Taine  carried  farther  than  Sainte-Beuve,  too 
far  the  latter  critic  felt,  the  idea  of  the  summarizing  phrase  based  on 
the  facuUe  mattresse  and  the  caractere  essentielJ 

When  the  critic  has  taken  all  those  steps  by  virtue  of  which  criticism 
may  be  called  a  science,  and  has  by  those  steps  reduced  his  author's 
quaHties  to  a  formula,  then  he  is  ready  to  file  him  away,  though  with 
qualification  and  reserve,  in  the  correct  pigeonhole,  to  place  him  in  his 
famille  d'esprits. 

The  two  doctrines,  one  implied  in  the  "essential  quality  "  or  "master- 
passion"  (the  facuUe  maitresse)  of  each  author,  and  the  other  in  the 
great  families  d'esprits  idea,  are  so  basic  in  Sainte-Beuve's  naturaUstic 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  p.  30.  ^  Cahiers,  p.  18. 

^  Ihid.,  p.  82.    For  many  other  examples,  see  Cahiers,  passim;    Causeries  du 
lundi,  XI,  441  ff. 
<  Ibid.,  IX,  260. 

s  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  96.  ^  Ibid.,  VII,  172. 

»  See  Victor  Giraud,  Essai  sur  Taine,  2d  ed.,  1902,  p.  97. 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  41 

criticism  that  it  is  not  possible  to  avoid  discussing  them  in  some  detail. 
They  will  be  taken  in  reverse  order. 

Sainte-Beuve  says:  "En  histoire  Utteraire  comme  en  histoire 
naturelle,  il  y  a  le  groupe,^  il  y  a  ceux  que  certaines  analogies  rassemblent,  j 
et  qui  ont  un  air  de  famille  auquel  on  ne  se  meprend  pas."^  It  is  these 
analogies  which  in  the  physical  world  determine  the  classification  of 
specimens  into  the  great  species  and  genera.  Sainte-Beuve  believes 
that  the  same  thing,  always  making  the  necessary  reservations,  may  be 
done  in  criticism — each  author  being  supplied  with  a  well-devised  label 
and  filed  with  others  who  have  the  same  or  closely  kindred  character- 
istics, the  whole  constituting  a  family  of  minds. 

Babbitt,^  discussing  Sainte-Beuve's  theory  of  families  of  minds, 
raises  the  question  as  to  whether  he  really  meant  a  natural  family, 
determined  by  zoological  or  organic  characteristics,  or  something  more 
or  less  unconscious.  **  Would,"  says  Babbitt,  **a  member  of  a  'natural' 
family  of  mystics  of  whom  Sainte-Beuve  speaks  have  been  a  mystic  if 
he  had  lived  on  an  island  in  the  South  Sea  and  had  never  heard  of 
St.  Augustine  or  of  Christianity?"  We  have  not,  in  the  first  place, 
any  statement  from  Sainte-Beuve  explicitly  pushing  his  principles  of 
classification  this  far;  and  in  the  second  place  there  was  without  doubt 
in  his  own  work  a  confusion  at  this  point  due  to  his  many-sided  and 
always  expanding  mind.  Yet  he  says:  "The  day  will  come  when  the 
science  of  physiological  observation  will  be  on  a  firm  basis" — "ou  les 
grandes  families  d'esprits  et  leur  principales  divisions  seront  determinees 
et  connues"  and  some  day  "un  esprit  plus  etendu  pourra  decouvrir  les 
grandes  divisions  naturelles  qui  repondent  aux  families  d'esprits"'' — there 
we  have  the  word,  natural  division. 

We  find  in  another  place  this  striking  passage: 

De  meme  que  La  Bruyere  a  peint  des  caracteres  moraux  qui  font  type,  on 
arriverait  ainsi  a  tracer  quantite  de  portraits-caracteres  des  grands  ecrivains, 
a  reconnaitre  leur  diversite,  leur  parente,  leurs  signes  eminemment  distinctifs, 
a  former  des  groupes,  a  repandre  enfin  dans  cette  infinie  variete  de  la  bio- 
graphic litteraire  quelque  chose  de  la  vue  lumineuse  et  de  Tordre  qui  preside  a 
a  distribution  des  families  naturelles  en  botanique  et  en  zoographie.s 

^  It  is  necessary  to  distinguish  this  groupe  from  the  groupe  he  speaks  of  earlier,  by 
which  he  means  the  friends  and  associates  of  a  young  author,  "  I'association  naturelle 
et  comme  spontan6e,"  he  calls  it.  Here  he  means  groupe  as  species,  using  it  as  a 
biological  term. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  170.  4  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  16. 

3  Babbitt,  op.  ciL,  p.  167.  s  ibid.,  IX,  80. 


42      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

It  is  true  that  immediately  he  reveals  the  double-mindedness  so 
characteristic  of  his  thinking  by  saying  that  we  shall  never  be  able  to 
handle  minds  precisely  as  we  handle  plants,  because  of  the  presence  in  the 
human  mind  of  that  sporadic  or  hybrid  liberty  which  baffles  the  scientist. 

Yet,  as  mentioned  by  Babbitt,  he  speaks  definitely  of  the  natural 
family  of  mystics/ 

It  would  seem  then  from  these  passages  that  in  using  the  word 
"natural'*  Sainte-Beuve  had  in  mind  something  that  he  considered 
scientific,  some  organic  basis  for  arranging  types  of  minds  in  groups. 

It  is  obvious  that  some  of  the  resemblances  and  kinships  that  he 
arranges  could  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  imitation  or  other  artificial 
influence.  In  the  article  "Qu'est-ce  qu'un  classique,"  he  makes  a  divi- 
sion, a  tentative  classification  of  the  families  of  minds.'  A  study  of 
these  groups  will  remove  the  question  of  imitation.  Here  are  some  of  his 
groups:  Homer,  Valmiki,Vyasa,Firdousi;  Solon,  Hesiod,  Theognis,  Job, 
Salomon,  Confucius,  together  with  La  Rochefoucauld  and  La  Bruy^re; 
Virgil,  Menander,  Tibullus,  Terence,  Fenelon;  Horace,  Pope,  Boileau, 
and  Montaigne;  La  Fontaine  and  Voltaire. 

This  family  of  minds  created  by  kindred  and  harmonious  endow- 
ments has  its  converse — certain  men  are  born  with  mutually  repellent 
qualities  which  drive  them  into  hostile  groups.^  This  accounts  for  those 
natural  antipathies  of  which  Sainte-Beuve  speaks — certain  people 
working  in  libraries  hate  each  other  for  no  cause  or  reason,  but  merely 
because  they  are  of  opposite  natures,  with  native  animosities.-*  He  says: 
"Cela  mtoe,  dans  le  detail,  est  assez  piquant  ^  observer;  on  se  d6teste 
quelquefois  toute  sa  vie  dans  les  lettres  sans  s'^tre  jamais  vus.  L'an- 
tagonisme  des  families  d'esprits  s'acheve  ainsi  de  se  dessiner."^  Further- 
more, no  process  can  enable  these  opposite  natures  to  view  one  another 
sympathetically— Taine  cannot  do  justice  to  Pope;*  Boileau  could 
never  be  taught  to  enjoy  Quinault;    Fontenelle  to  look  kindly  upon 

» Fort-Royal,  IV,  322.  3  Babbitt,  op.  cit.,  167. 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  38  ff.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  452. 

s  Ibid.,  Ill,  32.  It  is  interesting  here  to  note  that  William  James  held  some 
such  theory  of  "tough  and  tender"  minds  {Pragmatism,  pp.  12  fif.  and  263).  "We 
have  a  similar  contrast  expressed  in  the  pair  of  terms  'rationalist'  and  'empiricist,' 
'empiricist'  meaning  your  lover  of  facts  in  all  their  crude  variety,  'rationalist* 
meaning  your  devotee  of  abstract  and  eternal  principles"  (p.  9).  The  former  are 
the  tough-minded,  the  latter  the  tender-minded. 

«/W<f.,  VIII,  104. 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  43 

Boileau;  Joseph  de  Maistre  to  love  Voltaire.'    Sainte-Beuve  confesses 
to  just  such  an  antipathy  for  Saint-Marc  Girardin.^ 

The  master-faculty  of  an  author  is  the  main  factor  in  determining 
his  family  of  minds,  for  it  is,  for  the  most  part,  his  dominating  quality 
which  urges  him  to  that  form  of  self-expression  which  determines  his 
classification.  It  is  his  temperament,  his  "humor"  in  the  Jonsonian 
sense.3  The  master-passion,  as  Sainte-Beuve  conceives  it,  is  innate  or  at  ^ 
least  organic.  He  himself,  he  says,  was  born  with  a  passion  for  literature 
which  he  thinks  was  hereditary ;'» the  painter  Horace  Vernet  had  such  a 
call  to  be  a  painter .^  This  passion,  perhaps  innate,  is  inexorable  in  life 
and  persists  even  beyond  sanity.^  At  times  it  is  even  stronger  than  the 
otherwise  all-powerful  amour  propre.  For  Sainte-Beuve  was  a  disciple 
of  La  Rochefoucauld  to  the  extent  of  agreeing  with  that  cynical  moraUst's 
dictum  that  amour  propre  is  the  mainspring  of  all  action.  But  he  did 
recognize  that  there  are  times  and  circumstances  in  which  this  amour 
propre  is  nullified  by  the  action  of  a  genuinely  disinterested  and  irre- 
sistible master-passion.' 

In  the  difficult  task  of  isolating  the  master-passion  one  can  often 
obtain  help  from  the  fact  that  at  times  certain  authors  are  Ukely  to  display 
the  vice  or  the  virtue  which  is  the  opposite  of  the  one  that  dominates 
them.  The  astute  critic,  taking  this  peculiarity  in  a  Pickwickian  sense, 
arrives  at  the  real  master-passion. 

When  one  has  grouped  and  isolated  this  essential  principle  of  a  man's  ^ 
nature,  **0h,  alors  on  a  la  clef  de  tout,"  then  one  can  safely  permit 
himself  that  summary,  that  deduction  of  a  formula  of  classification  which 
Sainte-Beuve  advocates. 

One  is  compelled  to  notice  that  Sainte-Beuve's  doctrine  of  thefactdti 
maitresse  has  been  far  too  patronizingly  handled  by  certain  recent  students 
of  his  theory,  and  possibly  it  might  find  no  place  in  modern  psychology; 

^  Ibid.,  Ill,  32. 

'  Cahiers,  p.  49.  On  the  "  families  of  minds,"  cf .  also  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  314  ff., 
and  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  2. 

3  Babbitt  (op.  cit.,  pp.  167  ff.)  has  a  very  good  treatment  of  this  faculii  mattresse 
idea  of  Sainte-Beuve's. 

4  Cahiers,  p.  64.  s  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  43. 

^  Ibid.,  VIII,  129.  See  also  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  445,  where  the  poet  is  com- 
pared to  a  lunatic  with  an  obsession.  Sainte-Beuve,  in  this  idea,  and  in  the  passage 
{Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  129),  is  following  the  outline  in  part  of  Pope's  Essay  on  Man, 
which  he  is  fond  of  quoting. 

7  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  410  ff. 


44       SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

but  in  considering  Sainte-Beuve  as  a  scientific  critic  it  is  a  fallacy  to 
condemn  him  in  the  light  of  science  as  we  have  it  today.  The  term 
"pseudo-science"  should  not  be  lightly  flung  at  him,  seeing  that  in  his 
day  the  science  of  psychology  was  in  its  cradle  and  the  science  of  sociology, 
only  slowly  developing  since  then,  not  yet  born.  He  did  feel  the  appeal 
of  science  and  he  did  some  notable  thinking  under  three  of  its  great 
principles — observation,  identification,  and  classification. 

When  the  critic  has  finally  devised  his  formula  for  an  author  and  has 
classified  him,  it  is  now  his  affair  to  expand  the  sphere  of  his  investiga- 
tion; he  must  therefore  study  his  subject's  personal  relations  with  the 
world,  his  friends  and  particularly  his  enemies,  passing  on,  then,  to  his 
followers  and  disciples,  who  in  their  exaggeration  of  faults  and  vices 
serve  as  signposts  to  a  knowledge  of  their  master.^  The  literary  chil- 
dren of  any  great  man  are  often  revelatory  caricatures  of  their  progenitor. 

This  completes  the  process.  To  be  a  scientific  critic  is  to  study  an 
author  in  his  race,  his  native  country,  his  epoch,  his  family,  his  education 
and  early  environment,  his  group  of  associates,  his  first  success,  his 
first  moment  of  disintegration,  his  peculiarities  of  body  and  mind,  espe- 
cially his  weaknesses.  We  must  determine  his  factdte  mattresse;  we 
must  glance  at  his  imitators  and  disciples  and  learn  of  him  from  his 
friends  and  his  enemies;  and  we  must  devise  for  him  a  formula  and 
classify  him  in  his  famille  d'esprits.    In  Sainte-Beuve's  own  words: 

La  vraie  critique,  telle  que  je  me  la  d6finis,  consiste  plus  qife  jamais  a 
6tudier  chaque  etre,  c'est  a  dire  chaque  auteur,  chaque  talent,  selon  les  con- 
ditions de  sa  nature;  a  en  faire  une  vive  et  fidele  description,  k  charge  toutefois 
de  le  classer  ensuite  et  de  le  mettre  a  sa  place  dans  Tordre  de  Tart.' 

It  is  noticeable,  we  must  repeat,  that  through  all  this  Sainte-Beuve 
is  concerned  more  with  getting  at  the  pecuUar  germinal  principles  of 
personality  than  with  estimating  the  peculiar  excellences  of  the  work. 
In  this  connection  could  not  these  words  of  his  concerning  other  critics 
of  his  time  be  apphed  to  him  ?  "  Personne  mieux  que  Goethe  ne  s'enten- 
dait  a  prendre  le  mesure  des  esprits  et  des  genies,  de  leur  elevation  et 
de  leur  portee;  il  savait  les  etages;  c'est  ce  que  trop  de  critiques  oubUent 
et  confondent  aujourd'hui."^  Is  he,  too,  one  of  those  who  "forget  and 
confound"  the  real  merits  and  quaUties  of  men  in  the  interest  of  more 
narrowly  scientific  explanation  of  tangible  phenomena  ? 

^  "Rien  ne  juge  mieux  les  generations  litt6raires  qui  nous  ont  succ6d63  que  Tad- 
miration  enthousiaste  et  comme  fr6n6tique  dont  tous  les  jeunes  ont  6t6  saisis;  les 
gloutons  pour  Balzac  et  les  d61icats  pour  Musset"  {Cahiers,  p.  34). 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XII,  191.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  300. 


SCIENTIFIC  CRITICISM  45 

And  Sainte-Beuve  is  aware  that  there  are  those  who  will  say  that 
criticism  is  attempting  the  impossible  when  it  tries  by  scientific  investi- 
gation and  procedure  to  direct  and  supplement  the  indefinable  sense  of 
taste.  Such  persons  would  say:  "  Je  suis  a  table,  je  goiite  d'un  mets,  je 
goiite  un  fruit:  faut-il  done  tant  de  famous  pour  dire:  Xela  est  bon,  cela 
est  mauvais  ? ' "  Do  we  have  to  know  all  about  a  man^s  life  and  surround- 
ings to  enjoy  his  work?  "Yes,"  says  Samte-Beuve,  "to  assume  that  a 
reader  in  contact  with  a  book  old  or  new  is,  or  should  be,  hke  the  guest 
who  tastes  a  fruit  that  is  offered  him,  consuming  or  setting  it  aside 
without  knowing  its  nature  or  its  origin — to  do  this  is  to  treat  us 

en  gens  paresseux  et  d61icats.  Sans  ^tre  precisement  le  jardinier  en  m^me 
temps  que  le  convive,  il  est  bon  d'avoir,  au  sujet  du  fruit  qu'on  goiite,  le  plus 
de  notions  possible,  surtout  si  Ton  a  charge  bientdt  soi-meme  de  le  servir  et  de 
le  presenter  aux  autres.  En  un  mot,  le  goiit  seal  ne  suffit  plus  d^sormais,  et 
il  est  bon  qu'il  y  ait  la  connaissance  et  Tintelligence  des  choses.' 

"No  one,"  he  says,  to  make  clear  his  meaning  by  specific  examples,  "can 
understand  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre's  Paid  et  Virginie^  Pr6vost*s 
Manon  LescatU^  or  Limitation  de  Jisus  Christy  without  a  knowledge  of 
the  lives  of  their  authors  and  of  the  century  in  which  they  came  to  be; 
still  less  can  one  really  appreciate  the  truly  great — ^Homer,  Shakespeare, 
Dante — ^without  such  knowledge." 

>-  The  purpose  of  this  scientific  naturalistic  criticism  is  to  establish  a 
firm  basis  for  judgment.  It  must  be  supplemented  by  the  operations  of 
faculties  whose  processes  are  not  entirely  amenable  to  the  investigations 
of  science — the  intuitive  critical  faculty,  and  taste.  This  side  of  his 
theory  will  constitute  a  section  on  Sainte-Beuve  as  aesthetic  critic. 

« Ibid.,  DC,  81. 


\ 


IV.    AESTHETIC  CRITICISM 

More  than  once  in  the  foregoing  section  it  was  necessary  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that,  after  even  the  most  sweeping  and  enthusiastic 
claim  for  the  results  of  naturalistic  criticism,  Sainte-Beuve  makes  an 
exception,  a  reservation,  an  almost  nullifying  claim  as  to  the  service 
of  taste  and  of  the  native,  instinctive  critical  faculty.  In  most  of  these 
cases,  however,  he  is  urging  the  service  of  this  extra  or  super-scientific 
faculty,  not  as  a  substitute  for  the  scientific  process,  but  as  a  supplement 
to  it.  The  value  of  constatation  and  la  critique  purement  physiologique 
is  great,  but 

cela  dit,  at  nonobstant  ces  supplements  d'enqu^te  toujours  ouverts,  conservons, 
s'il  se  peut,  la  legeret6  du  goiit,  son  impression  delicate  et  prompte;  en  presence 
des  oeuvres  vives  de  Tesprit,  osons  avoir  notre  jugement  net  et  vif  aussi,  et 
bien  tranche,  bien  d6gag6,  stir  de  ce  qu'il  est,  m^me  sans  pieces  a  I'appui.' 

And  again: 

Maintenons,  messieurs,  les  degr^s  de  Tart,  les  etages  de  I'esprit;  encour- 
ageons  toute  recherche  laborieuse,  mais  laissons  en  tout  la  maitrise  au  talent, 
a  la  meditation,  au  jugement,  a  la  raison,  au  goiit.^ 

And  again  in  the  same  essay,  De  la  tradition  en  littSrature: 

De  cette  disposition  bien  avou6e  et  convenue  entre  nous,  de  ce  que,  tout 
en  profitant  de  notre  mieux  des  instruments,  un  peu  onereux  parfois,  de  la 
critique  nouvelle,  nous  retiendrons  quelques-unes  des  habitudes  et  les  prin- 
cipes  memes  de  Tancienne  critique,  accordant  la  premiere  place  dans  notre 
admiration  et  notre  estime  a  Tinvention,  a  la  composition,  a  I'art  d'ecrire,  et 
sensibles,  avant  tout,  aux  charme  de  Tesprit,  a  I'^levation  ou  a  la  finesse  du 
talent,  etc.3 

In  this  passage  the  word  sensibles  acknowledges  and  sums  up  the  recog- 
nition of  the  existence  and  importance  of  a  distinct  critical  faculty, 
which  we  must  call  upon  to  enable  us  to  make  a  judgment,  to  tell  finally 
when  other  processes  may  fail  us,  that  a  work  is  good  or  bad. 

Sainte-Beuve's  humanistic  instinct  and  training  never  deserted  him, 
and  he  maintained  that  whatever  work  of  art  he  had  before  him,  though 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  377.  This  mime  sans  pieces  a  Vappui  would  seem  to  be 
a  contradiction  of  the  often-expressed  demand  that  the  scholar  and  the  scientist  must 
precede  the  critic  so  as  to  enable  him  to  base  his  judgments  on  facts. 

» lUd.,  XV,  376.  3  ihid.,  p.  378. 

46 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  47 

he  might  up  to  a  certain  point  handle  it  as  a  scientific  specimen,  was  to 
be  judged  on  its  merits  as  art  stib  specie  aeternitatis  as  well  as  sub  specie 
temporis.  It  is  when  he  neglects  this  step  of  adjudication  in  criticizing, 
or  refrains  from  taking  it  because  of  absorption  in  other  matters,  that 
he  is  weak. 

The  weak  point  in  Sainte-Beuve's  armor  is  his  occasional  tendency  to  rest 
in  his  analysis.  It  is  finer  art  to  suggest  the  conclusion  rather  than  to 
draw  it,  no  doubt,  but  one  should  at  least  do  that;  he  occasionally  fails  to 
justify  his  analysis  in  this  way;  so  that  his  result  is  both  artistically  and 
philosophically  inconclusive.  Now  and  then  he  pays  in  this  way  for  his 
aversion  to  pedantry  and  system,  and  the  excessive  disinterestedness  of  his 
curiosity.^ 

f^  Sainte-Beuve  was  too  keen  a  thmker  not  to  realize  that  purely  investi- 
gative and  analytic  criticism  is  rather  a  tool  than  an  end  in  itself — a 
tool  with  which  great  things  may  be  wrought  but  which  must  help  to 
build  a  greater  conception,  an  ideal,  a  standard.  It  is  valuable  as  a 
contributing  element  in  the  search  for  the  truth  and  as  furnishing  a 
basis  for  the  measuring  and  appraising  of  works  of  art;  but  it  is  onl}' 
one,  and  often  a  mmor,  element.  After  we  have  found  out  the  facts, 
have  explained  the  work  of  art  as  a  product  of  its  author  and  its  age, 
there  still  persists  the  question  which  in  its  baldest  form  asks,  ''Is  it 
good,  is  it  bad?"  and  not  mfrequently  even,  "How  good  is  it,  how  bad 
is  it  ?  "  Sauite-Beuve  rarely  shirked  these  questions  and  seldom  ignored 
them,  and,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  it  is  in  his  weaker  work,  where  he 
limits  himseK  to  analysis,  that  we  do  not  find  answers  to  one  or  both 
of  them.  This  means  that  Sainte-Beuve  added  to  the  scientific  and 
historic  critic  in  him  a  greater  critic  who  was  aesthetic  and  even  judicial. 
It  has  often  been  said  that  Samte-Beuve  was  not  a  judicial  critic — 
that  he  did  not  pass  judgment  on  the  works  of  art  he  treated.'  This 
view  may  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  that  those  who  hold  it  place 
their  emphasis  on  Sainte-Beuve's  accumulation  of  facts  which,  however 
vast  and  important,  with  him  is  usually  a  preHminary  to  judging.  But 
before  we  can  discuss  this  matter  profitably  it  seems  necessary  to  say 
one  more  word  as  to  what  constitutes  a  judicial  critic  and  a  critical 
judgment. 

»  Brownell,  Criticism,  p.  68. 

'  Critics  who  think  that  Sainte-Beuve  did  not  pass  judgment  are  numerous.  Here 
are  some  examples:  Levallois,  op.  cit.,  p.  112.  Harper,  Sainte-Beuve,  p.  326,  quotes 
Barbey  d'Aurevilly  to  this  effect;  see  also,  Scherer,  Faguet,  L6on  S6ch6,  d'Hausson- 
ville,  who  all  lay  the  greater  emphasis  on  his  impressionistic  side. 


48       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

The  description  of  a  judicial  critic  as  one  who  merely  metes  out 
praise  or  blame — who  bestows  laudation  if  he  happens  to  approve,  con- 
demnation if  he  happens  to  dislike — is  a  rather  shallow  handling  of  the 
matter.*  To  identify  the  critical  judge  on  the  one  hand  with  the  critical 
executioner  who,  after  the  manner  of  the  old  Scotch  reviewers,  dismisses 
his  victim  with  a  contemptuous  "This  will  never  do,  Mr.  Wordsworth" 
or  "Back  to  your  gallipots,  John  Keats,"  or,  on  the  other  hand,  with  the 
indiscriminate  singer  of  paeans  of  praise,  the  merely  appreciative  impres- 
sionistic log-roller,  is  in  either  case  both  unfair  and  unjust.  Sainte- 
Beuve  has  several  warnings  against  undue  laudation:  "Vous  n'en 
conclurez  pas,  que  nous  serons  necessairement,  a  Tegard  des  livres 
et  des  ecrivains  celebres,  dans  la  louange  monotone,  dans  une  louange 
/  universelle."^  Is  not,  then,  the  judicial  critic  the  one  who,  avoiding 
mere  laudation  and  condemnation,  offers  a  definitive  appraisement,  a 
final  word  as  to  the  qualities  and  defects  of  the  work  of  art;  who  sets 
up  a  comparison  of  this  given  product  with  some  standard  based  not 
only  on  an  expert  personal  taste  but  on  tradition  and  on  some  of  the 
laws  of  taste  which  he  believes  to  be  tested  and  fundamental;  who  does 
not  leave  his  discussion  inconclusive,  but  who  either  expressly  or  by 
unmistakable  implication  "places"  his  man  and  his  book  in  relation 
to  the  standard  ? 

With  this  idea  of  the  judicial  critic  and  of  the  process  of  judging 
Sainte-Beuve's  practice  will  be  found  to  agree.  The  first  passage  of  any 
importance  in  this  connection,  the  introduction  to  the  Catiseries  du 
lundi,  has  already  been  quoted.^  Speaking  of  his  second  period,  that 
of  appreciative  criticism,  he  writes,  it  will  be  remembered, "  cette  critique 
pourtant  comme  telle  avait  un  defaut — elle  ne  concluait  pas."^  The 
completed  function,  then,  of  the  perfect  criticism  is  to  offer  a  conclusion. 
And  Sainte-Beuve  himself  is  conscious  of  having  sought  to  remedy  his 
deficiency  when  he  writes:  "En  critique,  j'ai  assez  fait  I'avocat,  faisons 
maintenant  le  juge."s  He  also  accounts  for  the  fact  that  he  is  much 
hated  on  the  ground  of  his  independance  de  jugemen^  which  leads  him 
to  speak  his  mind.  He  feels  that  it  is  the  critic's  duty  to  express  his 
opinions  and,  if  need  be,  trancher.^  The  true  role  of  the  critic  now, 
V  as  always,  is  to  judge.  •  "Le  propre  des  critiques  en  general,  comme 
rindique  assez  leur  nom,  est  de  juger,  et  au  besoin  de  trancher,  de 

*  Cf.  J.  M.  Robertson,  Essays  toward  a  Critical  Method,  p.  46. 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  379.  « Portraits  littiraires,  III,  550. 

*  Supra,  p.  2.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XII,  44. 

*  Ibid.,  I,  3.  7  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  14. 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  49 

decider" — all  the  great  critics  have  done  this.  "Tous  ces  hommes  ... 
jugaient  des  choses  de  gout  avec  vivacite;  avec  trop  d'exclusion  peut- 
etre,  mais  enfin  avec  un  sentiment  net,  decisif  et  irresistible."'  The 
most  important  item  of  this  quotation  is,  of  course,  the  very  first  "le 
propre  des  critiques  est  de  juger,"  and  one  can  imagine  no  more  definite 
statement  of  Sainte-Beuve's  belief  as  to  this  function  of  his  calling.  The 
quarrel  between  impressionistic  and  judicial  criticism  has  taken  definite 
form  since  Sainte-Beuve's  day,  but  he  was  aware  of  the  distinctions 
between  the  two  practices,  as  witness  this  passage: 

Aujourd'hui  il  n'est  pas  rare  de  trouver,  dans  ceux  qui  s'intitulent  critiques, 
du  savoir,  de  la  plume,  de  Terudition,  de  la  fantaisie.  Donnez-leur  un  ouvrage 
nouveau,  ils  vont  discourir  a  merveille  sur  le  sujet,  ou  a  c6te  du  sujet.  ...  lis 
vous  diront  tout,  excepte  un  jugement.  lis  ont  tout  du  critique,  except6  le 
judicieux.  lis  n'oseront  se  compromettre  jusqu'a  dire:  "Ceci  est  bon,  ceci 
est  mauvais."* 

This  might  be  a  summary  of  the  faults  of  the  critical  school  of  Anatole 
France  or  of  Lemaitre.  It  is  on  the  ground  of  his  failure  to  utter  a  word 
of  final  appraisement  and  his  consequent  evasion  of  the  essential  duty 
of  the  critic  that  Sainte-Beuve  pronounces  Pontmartin  not  a  critic  at 
all  but  merely  un  aimable  cameurJ 

The  abiUty  to  judge  comes  of  a  critical  faculty,  an  innate  gift,  a 
talent  which  by  a  sort  of  divination  arrives  at  a  valid  judgment.  Such 
was  the  equipment  of  the  great  critics  of  former  days,  who,  though  lack- 
ing the  knowledge  that  has  broadened  the  basis  of  our  judgments,  never- 
theless delivered  verdicts  sound  and  correct — and  still  sound  and  correct. 
The  humanist  in  Sainte-Beuve  forced  him  to  recognize  that  the  judgments 
of  former  days  were  sound  and  made  him  look  with  suspicion  on  any 
radical  reversal  of  tradition.  Tradition  is,  after  all,  only  the  accumulated 
experience  of  the  race.  "Faire  dans  nos  jugements  des  reformes  con- 
tinuelles,  si  besoin  est,  mais  des  reformes  seulement  et  non  des  r6volu- 
tions;  voila  le  plus  sur  resultat  de  la  critique  litteraire,  telle  que  je 
rentends."4 

From  a  practical  point  of  view  the  critic's  right  to  give  utterance 
to  his  judgments  is  Umited.  We  must  not  praise  too  much  for  fear  of 
exaggeration:  "Nous  tacherons  done,  de  ne  pas  admirer  plus  qu'il  ne 
faut,  ni  autrement  qu'il  ne  faut;  de  ne  pas  tout  donner  a  un  siecle,  meme 
a  un  grand  siecle.  "s    On  the  other  hand,  out  of  consideration  for  other 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  112. 

'  Ibid.,  I,  382.  4  Ibid.,  VIII,  391. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  16.  s  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  379. 


(A 


50       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

artists  (Sainte-Beuve  was  not  always  so  tactful  as  he  would  have  us 
believe),  we  must  keep  to  ourselves  our  most  adverse  opinions  and  our 
most  severe  condemnations.  He  distinguishes  on  this  merely  practical 
basis  three  kinds  of  judgments: 

Un  critique,  en  restant  ce  qu'il  doit  6tre,  peut  done  avoir  jusqu'a  ...  trois 
expressions  de  jugements:  le  jugement  secret,  intime,  caus6  dans  la  chambre 
et  entre  amis,  un  jugement  d'accord  avec  le  type  de  talent  qu'on  porte  en  soi 
et,  par  consequent,  comme  tout  ce  qui  est  personnel,  vif,  passionne,  prime- 
sautier,  enthousiaste  ou  repulsif,  un  jugement  qui,  en  bien  des  cas,  emporte 
la  piece;  c'est  celui  de  la  predilection  ou  de  Vantipathie. 

But,  out  of  respect  for  others,  we  cannot  express  these  judgments  indis- 
criminately or  scatter  them  broadcast: 

U  faut,  si  Ton  veut  rester  juste,  introduire  a  chaque  instant  dans  son 
esprit  un  certain  contraire.  Cela  constitue  le  second  jugement,  reflechi  et 
pondere  en  vue  du  public:  c'est  celui  de  requite  et  de  V intelligence.  Enfin 
il  y  a  un  troisieme  jugement,  souvent  commande  et  dict6,  au  moins  dans  la 
forme,  par  les  circonstances,  les  convenances  exterieures;  un  jugement  modifie, 
mitige  par  des  raisons  valables,  des  egards  et  des  considerations  dignes  de 
respect;  c'est  ce  que  j'appelle  le  jugement  de  position  ou  d'indtdgence.''^ 

The  last  two  kinds  of  judgments  are  those  which  a  critic  may  print 
with  safety;  and  most  of  the  expressions  of  opinion  we  find  in  Sainte- 
Beuve  could  be  classified  under  the  last  two  heads.  However,  in  two 
or  three  places  he  gave  free  rein  to  his  pen  and  left  us  those  bodies  of 
trenchant  verdicts  on  contemporary  and  classical  authors,  the  hundred 
or  so  pages  of  Pensies  at  the  end  of  Volume  XI  of  the  Causeries  du 
lundi,  and  the  posthumous  Cahiers.  In  these  were  gathered  the  poison 
drops  of  bitter  sarcasm  and  withering  condemnation  that  he  had  not 
dared  print.  In  general,  however,  in  accord  with  his  own  expressed 
doctrine,  his  verdicts  were  generous  and  expressed  with  moderation.^ 

Quite  frequently  Sainte-Beuve's  conclusions  assumed  a  form  in  which 
1  the  meaning,  though  quite  inescapable,  is  not  explicitly  expressed — no 
doubt  the  more  artistic  practice  as  a  matter  of  style.  Sainte-Beuve, 
however,  risked  no  mistakes.  Before  leaving  matters  to  the  reader  he 
generally  led  him  to  the  point  where  the  conclusion  was  inevitable. 
He  says  that  certain  persons  have  found  fault  with  him  for  not  con- 
demning the  morality  of  the  eighteenth  century: 

Je  leur  ferai  remarquer  que  je  r^ussis  bien  mieux  si  je  les  provoque  i 
la  condamner  eux-m^mes,  que  si  je  prenais  les  devants  et  paraissais  vouloir 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  300. 

""Gardens  nous  de  I'ironie  en  jugeant;  de  toutes  les  dispositions  de  I'esprit 
rironie  est  la  moins  intelligente"  {Cahiers,  p.  75). 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  51 

leur  imposer  un  jugement  en  toute  rencontre,  ce  qui,  a  la  longue,  fatigue  et 
I     cheque  toujours  chez  un  critique.    Le  lecteur  aime  assez  k  se  croire  plus  severe 
que  le  critique;  je  lui  laisse  ce  plaisir-la.^ 

Perhaps  this  is  sufficient  to  make  clear  the  fact  that  Sainte-Beuve 
believed  that  the  critical  process  should  eventuate  in  a  judgment  or  a 
series  of  judgments  expressed  or  unmistakably  implied.  It  is  also  clear 
that  to  him  the  trustworthy  judicial  critic  is  one  who  bases  his  judgments 
not  on  merely  personal  likes  and  dislikes  but  rather  on  aesthetic  grounds 
and  on  some  basic  principles  of  art.  Sainte-Beuve  taught  that  there 
were  such  universal  principles  which  all  critics  were  bound  to  recognize; 
that  there  was  a  fundamental  ground  from  which  artists  shifted  but 
sUghtly,  and  that  remaining  on  this  fundamental  ground  was  entirely 
compatible  with  individual  variation: 

J'ai  souvent  remarque  que,  quand  deux  bons  esprits  portent  un  jugement 
tout  a  fait  different  sur  le  m^me  auteur,  il  y  a  fort  a  parier  que  c'est  qu'ils  ne 
pensent  pas  en  effet,  pour  le  moment,  au  m^me  objet,  ...  que  c'est  qu'ils  ne 
I'ont  pas  tout  entier  present,  qu'ils  ne  le  comprenneni  pas  actuellement  tout 
entier.  Une  attention  et  une  connaissance  plus  6tendues  rapproacheraient 
les  jugements  dissidents  et  les  remettraient  d'accord.  Mais  aussi  il  y  a,m6me 
dans  le  cercle  r6gulier  et  gradue  des  admirations  legitimes,  une  certaine  lati- 
tude a  laisser  a  la  diversite  des  gouts,  des  esprits  et  des  ^ges.' 

Critical  judgments  differ,  then,  only  because  critics  are  not  looking 
at  the  same  thing  in  an  author,  are  not  regarding  him  under  the  same 
aspects;  if  they  did  (by  implication)  their  estimates  of  him  would  be 
the  same,  and  all  would  agree  as  to  excellence  or  defect.  This  looks 
like  a  clear  recognition  of  some  absolute  critical  criterion,  one  which  is 
the  same  to  all  men,  when  all  men  see  the  facts  clearly.  These  things 
are  the  essentials,  Sainte-Beuve  goes  on  to  say,  and  the  matters  of  indi- 
vidual taste  are  relegated  to  the  less  important,  to  the  outer  fringe  of  art. 

Judgments  and  estimates  may  be  absolute,  therefore,  because  they'" 
are  founded  on  something  universal.    Judgments  of  personal  taste  are 
useful  only  in  a  very  limited  field. 

Oh!  Que  je  hais,  en  fait  d'art,  ces  jugements  soi-disant  senses,  qui,  ne  se 
laissant  pour  rien  deloger  de  leur  cadres,  ne  savent  ni  remonter  d'une  idee  au 
dessus  des  choses  de  leur  berceau,  ni  se  transporter  dans  la  posterite  d'une 
journ6e  par  dela  I'instant  de  la  tombe.  lis  representent  le  prejug6  vivant  dans 
toute  sa  rectitude  et  son  aplomb.^ 

That  is  to  say,  the  critic  who  cannot  transcend  his  time  and  look  to  the 
eternal  principles  at  art  is  exhibiting  mere  prejudice. 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  267.  '  Ibid.,  XV,  381.  a  Cahiers,  p.  37. 


® 


SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 


Sainte-Beuve  repeats  several  times  that  criticism,  la  science  morale, 
has  its  laws: 

II  semble  qu'en  litterature  et  en  morale  les  choses  ne  se  passent  point  comme 
dans  la  science  proprement  dite  et  que  ce  soit  toujours  a  recommencer;  je 
pense  toutefois  qu'il  y  a,  dans  cet  ordre  d 'observations  aussi,  de  certaines  con- 
clusions acquises  et  demontrees  sur  lesquelles  il  n'y  a  pas  lieu  pour  les  bons 
esprits  a  revenir.  La  science  morale,  bien  comprise,  bien  appliquee  aux  indivi- 
dus,  a,  comme  toutes  les  sciences,  ses  jugements  definitifs  et  ses  r^sultats.* 

But  even  clearer  recognition  of  abiding  principles  for  judging  are 
made  by  him  in  his  comment  that  the  time  has  now  come  to  do  justice 
to  Beranger:  "  de  lui  payer,  dis-je,  une  large  part,  mais  une  part  mesuree 
au  m6me  poids  et  dans  la  meme  balance  dont  nous  nous  servons  pour 
d'autres."^  These  "meme  poids  et  la  meme  balance  dont  nous  nous  servons 
pour  d'autres,"  are  they  not  Sainte-Beuve's  literary  criteria,  the  stand- 
ards which  shall  apply  to  all  artists  ?  But  while  he  saw  the  necessity 
for  great  and  broad  principles  of  criticism,  with  characteristic  broad- 
mindedness  he  made  room  as  he  always  did  for  un  certain  contraire.  He 
warns  us  solemnly  against  systematizing,  against  strict  adherence  to 
rules;  the  world  is  in  constant  flux,  he  says: 

Oh!  je  la  sais,  dans  le  tourbillon  accelere  qui  entraine  le  monde  et  les 
societes  modernes,  tout  change,  tout  s'agrandit  et  se  modifie  incessamment. 
Des  formes  nouvelles  de  talents  se  produisent  chaque  jour;  toutes  les  rhgles, 
d^aprh  lesquelles  on  s'Stait  accoutume  cL  juger  les  choses  mSmes  de  V esprit,  sont 
dijouies;  I'etonnement  est  devenu  une  habitude;  nous  marchons  de  monstres 
en  monstres.  Le  vrai  d'hier,  deja  incomplet  ce  matin,  sera  demain  tout  a  fait 
depasse  et  laisse  derriere.  Les  moules,  fixes  a  peine,  deviennent  aussit6t  trop 
etroits  et  insuffisants.  Aussi,  ...  chacun  a  chaque  instant  devrait  ^tre  ocaip6 
a  briser  dans  son  esprit  le  moule  qui  est  pres  de  prendre  et  de  se  former.  Ne 
nous  figeons  pas;  tenons  nos  esprits  vivants  et  fluides.3 

In  this  characteristic  passage  he  thus  warns  us  against  setting  up  petty 
standards,  and  the  stiff  and  narrow  appUcation  of  any  standard;  but  he 
is  certainly  not  advising  the  abrogation  of  aU  criteria. 

There  are  five  pierres  de  louche  whereby  the  critic  tests  the  quality 
of  the  work  of  art,  five  weights  in  the  judicial  scales  in  which  he  appraises 
values:  first  and  foremost,  taste;  second,  reality,  truth  to  Ufe;  third, 
tradition — these  chief;  we  add  a  fourth,  logic  and  consistency,  and  a 
fifth,  morality,  which  played  a  real  though  minor  part  in  Sainte-Beuve's 
procedure. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  2. 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  286.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  49. 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  53 

The  first  and  it  may  be  said  the  most  important  weight  in  the  scales 
of  judgment  is  taste.  We  have  seen  already  that  Sainte-Beuve  regarded 
the  criticism  of  mere  unaided  taste  as  out  of  date,  but  also  that  he 
insisted  on  taste  as  an  essential  quaUty  in  the  critic,  and  a  necessary 
factor  in  criticism.  He  saw  clearly  that  to  say  *'I  do  not  like  it"  is 
not  passing  a  judgment  or  giving  a  real  decision  on  the  ultimate  value 
of  any  work,  being  as  it  is  a  statement  of  one's  own  mere  opinion,  and 
very  probably  a  revelation  of  one's  own  limitations.  Shakespeare 
remains  great  whether  Voltaire  liked  him  or  not,  and  it  is  not  Shake- 
speare's demerit  that  the  illustrious  French  critic  was  not  able  to  see 
his  greatness. 

Taste,  however,  is  the  primary  arbiter,  the  sentinelle  toujours  en 
eveille,^  the  guidepost  which  points  the  way  for  the  critic  and  tells  him 
when  he  is  in  the  right  path.  It  is  the  complement  of  the  indispensable 
hon  sens;  it  transcends  reason,  for,  since  it  is  instinctive,  it  functions 
where  reason  does  not  and  cannot  function.'  Le  goM  is  not  a  capricious 
gift  of  fortune,  knowing  no  laws,  a  matter  of  whim;  on  the  contrary  it 
has  its  own  rules,  its  own  body  of  accumulated  precedents,  for  it  abides 
from  age  to  age.  "Je  crois  toujours  a  la  permanence  d'une  certaine 
delicatesse,  une  fois  acquise,  dans  I'ame  humaine,  dans  I'esprit  des 
hommes  ou  des  femmes"^ — this  delicatesse  is  a  synonym  of  good  taste. 
Le  hon  goM  can  be  cultivated  and  refined  in  persons  and  in  social  groups; 
it  is  not  entirely  lost  even  in  the  grossest  epochs. 

What,  then,  is  this  "taste"  which  is  so  important  in  criticism? 
"Rien  n'est  plus  rare  que  le  bon  gout,  a  le  prendre  en  son  sens  exquis  ... 
I'amour  du  simple,  du  sense,  de  I'eleve,  de  ce  qui  est  grand  sans  phrase."'* 
One  must  keep  correcting  one's  self  in  writing  "par  un  sens  vif,  deUcat, 
mobile,  qui  a  chaque  instant  remet  tout  en  question;  et  ce  sens  exquis 
s'appelle  le  gout."s  Mme  de  Girardin,  he  says,  defines  goUt  as  la 
pudeur  de  Vesprit^  and  this  he  calls  a  good  definition.^  Montaigne  was 
lacking  in  good  taste,  "si  Ton  entend  par  gout  le  choix  net  et  parfait, 
le  degagement  des  elements  du  beau.  "7 

Taste  in  Sainte-Beuve's  mind  is  a  sort  of  sixth  sense  and  partakes  of 
the  nature  of  the  other  senses  in  that  it  is  unreasoning  and  sure  and  at 
times  epicurean: 

L'Abbe  Gedoyn  I'a  tres-bien  remarque;  "le  gout,  a  proprement  parler, 
emporte  I'idee  de  je  ne  sais  quelle  materialite."    II  y  entre  une  part  de  sens. 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  373,. 

'  Ibid.,  V,  69.  s  Cahiers,  p.  56. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  85.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  391. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  283.  '  Ihid.,  IV,  80. 


54       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

Le  mot  judicium  des  Latins  a  une  acception  plus  6tendue  et  un  peuplusabstraite 
que  notre  mot  goUt  ...  les  gens  d'esprit  qui,  k  table,  mangent  au  hasard,  ... 
peuvent  etre  de  grands  raisonneurs  et  de  hautes  intelligences,  mais  ils  ne  sont 
pas  des  gens  de  goUi.^ 

Because  taste  is  a  sense  and  consequently  savors  of  the  flesh, 
De  Laprade  makes  an  assault  on  the  homme  de  goUt,  who,  he  says,  "  est 
celui  qui  n'a  jamais  rien  admire."  But  Sainte-Beuve  comes  to  the 
defense: 

II  en  veut  au  goUi  de  ce  que  son  nom  est  emprunt6  au  moins  noble  de  tous 
les  sens.  ...  II  ne  sent  pas  que  c'est,  au  contraire,  en  vertu  d'une  analogic 
exquise  que  ce  mot  de  goUt  a  privalu  chez  nous  sur  celui  de  jugement.  Le 
jugement!  Je  sais  des  esprits  qui  I'ont  tres  bon  et  qui,  en  m^me  temps  man- 
quent  de  gotit,  parceque  le  gout  exprime  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus  fin  et  de  plus 
instinctif  dans  le  plus  confusement  delicat  des  organes.' 

Taste  is  essentially  a  selective  faculty,  a  distinguishing  instrument, 
but,  like  the  other  senses,  may  become  fatigued  and  refuse  to  function. 
"Le  vrai  goiit  discerne,  examine;  il  a  ses  temps  de  repos,  et  il  choisit."^ 
"H  faut  choisir,  et  la  premiere  condition  du  goiit,  apres  avoir  tout 
compris,  est  de  ne  pas  voyager  sans  cesse,  mais  de  s'asseoir  une  fois 
et  de  se  fixer.  Rien  ne  blase  et  n'eteint  plus  le  goiit  que  les  voyages 
sans  fin;  Tesprit  poetique  n'est  pas  le  Juif  Errant.' '*  The  basis  of 
taste  is  stable,  abiding  throughout  the  ages,  and,  though  taste  does 
undergo  certain  minor  changes,  sometimes  growing  more  refined,  some- 
times seeming  to  deteriorate,  it  never  departs  very  widely  from  its  stable 
basis;  it  changes  so  slowly  from  moment  to  moment  in  the  individual 
and  from  generation  to  generation  in  the  race  that  there  is  no  shock 
of  change. 

In  consequence  taste  is  identified  in  some  measure  with  the  classical 
spirit  and  tradition;  it  is  a  humanistic  ideal  and  is  bound  up  with  the 
conception  of  the  perfect  man.  We  must  attain  "^  la  vraie  mesure 
humaine;  sans  laquelle  il  n^est  pas  de  grand  goiit,  de  go<it  veritable. "s 

» Portraits  litteraires,  III,  548. 

» Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  12.  This  same  idea  is  found  again  here:  "Vous  avez  beau 
dire,  je  ne  croirai  jamais  qu'un  homme  aussi  malpropre  ait  6t6  un  homme  de  goilt" 
(Planche);  "le  goftt,  aprfes  tout,  n'est  que  le  plus  subtil  des  sens"  {Correspondance, 
I,  320). 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  215.  *  Ihid.t  III,  53. 

5  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  27.  This  phrase  le  grand  goilt  is  generally  used  of  the  age 
of  Louis  XIV.    Sainte-Beuve  must  have  had  this  in  mind  when  he  wrote  the  passage. 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  55 

In  one  place  he  identifies  urbanity  and  goM^^  and  urbanitS,  as  we  shall 
see  later,  is  to  Saint-Beuve  the  main  characteristic  of  the  classical  age. 

The  sixteenth  century  saw  the  rise  of  this  doctrine  of  taste,*  but  in 
the  seventeenth  there  occurred  for  the  only  time  in  the  history  of  France 
the  union  of  bon  sens  and  bon  goUt,  which  to  Sainte-Beuve  seemed  the 
ultimate  literary  achievement.^  In  the  eighteenth  century  taste  was 
on  the  ebb;  it  was  not  so  exquisitely  educated,  nor  so  widely  dissemi- 
nated as  it  had  been,  though  in  essence  it  remained  the  same.  But 
in  Sainte-Beuve's  own  day  he  says,  in  one  of  the  few  hopeful  passages 
about  modern  Uterature,  that  taste  was  returning  to  its  ancient  authority 
and  was  again  being  trained  to  excellence,  largely  under  the  lead  of 
Chateaubriand.    That  author 

revenait  et  nous  ramenait  par  des  hauteurs  un  peu  escarp6es  et  impr6vues  k 
la  grande  et  forte  langue,  et  c'etait  sur  ses  traces  que  le  gout  lui-meme  devait 
retrouver  bient6t  sa  vigueur  et  son  originalite.  Ce  gout  reflechi  et  acquis, 
mais  reel,  est  une  des  conqu^tes  de  la  critique  depuis  M.  Walckenaer.< 

Taste  was,  then,  to  Sainte-Beuve  another  sense,  a  perception  of  unity, 
of  simplicity,  of  dignity;  unreasoning  and  spontaneous  but  eminently 
educable,  a  touchstone  for  the  simple,  the  refined,  the  unexaggerated. 
It  is  to  him  both  a  native,  instinctive  sensibility,  and  a  habit  cultivated 
by  experience  and  tradition.  "It  is  inborn,  as  spontaneous  as  insight, 
indeed  with  an  insight  of  its  own."s  Taste  was,  we  may  say  then,  the 
keystone  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  judicial  arch. 

.  The  second  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  divining-rods  was  realitt^  or, 
to  sum  it  up  as  fairly  as  possible  in  one  phrase,  truth  to  life.^  He  does 
not  mean  the  reaUty  posited  in  the  creed  of  professed  realism,  not 
actuality  as  the  record  of  observed  facts;  he  would  set  his  reaUty  over 
against  sentimental  ideaUsm  on  the  one  hand,  and  cynical  disillusion- 
ment on  the  other.  He  would  ask,  when  he  has  for  study  a  drama,  a 
novel,  "Do  people  conduct  their  lives  like  this;  are  these  the  motives 
on  which  men  act,  and  is  this  the  response  that  would  be  called  out  by 
this  combination  of  circumstances  and  motives,  has  the  author  made 

*  Causeries  du  hmdi,  III,  69. 

'Ibid.,  IV,  So. 

^  Ibid.,  Ill,  256.  "Le  plein  bon  sens  et  le  vrai  bon  goAt,  chez  nous,  n'ont 
jamais  existe  ensemble  qu'a  un  tr^s-court  moment  de  la  litt6rature  et  de  la  langue." 

"» Ibid.,  VI,  1 73.  "  Depuis  M.  Walckenaer,"  after  1830.  He  is,  of  course,  speaking 
here  only  of  the  revival  of  taste  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

s  Stedman,  Nature  of  Poetry,  p.  72. 

'  For  his  demand  for  the  study  of  truth  by  the  critic  see  Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  47. 


56      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

on  us  the  impression  that  this  is  life  as  men  and  women  live  it  and  feel 
it;  though  we  must  grant  that  these  events  did  not  take  place  in  the 
actual  world,  may  we  yet  assume  that  they  would  seem  natural  or 
credible  if  they  did?"  Since  Sainte-Beuve's  time  this  reality  has  at 
times  seemed  to  be  regarded  by  some  critics  as  the  one  and  sufficient 
tenet.^  But  none  of  them  could  be  more  convincing,  and  few  of  them 
would  be  so  eloquent,  as  Sainte-Beuve  in  the  following  passage: 

Realite,  tu  es  le  fond  de  la  vie,  et  comma  telle,  meme  dans  tes  asperit^s, 
meme  dans  tes  rudesses,  tu  attaches  les  esprits  serieux,  et  tu  as  pour  eux  un 
charme.  Et  pourtant,  a  la  longue  et  toute  seule,  tu  finirais  par  rebuter  insen- 
siblement,parrassasier;  tues  trop  souvent  plate,  vulgaire  et  lassante.  C'est 
bien  assez  de  te  rencontrer  a  chaque  pas  dans  la  vie;  on  veut  du  moins  dans 
Tart,  en  te  retrouvant  et  en  te  sentant  presente  ou  voisine  tou jours,  avoir 
affaire  encore  a  autre  chose  que  toi.  Oui,  tu  as  besoin,  a  tout  instant,  ... 
d'etre  relevee  par  quelque  endroit,  sous  peine  d'accabler  et  peut-etre  d'ennuyer 
comme  trop  ordinaire.  II  te  faut,  pour  le  moins,  posseder  et  joindre  a  tes 
merites  ce  genie  d'imitation  si  parfait,  si  anime,  si  fin,  qu'il  devient  comme  une 
creation  et  une  magie  a  son  tour,  cet  emploi  merveilleux  des  moyens  et  des 
precedes  de  Tart  qui,  sans  s'etaler  et  sans  faire  montre,  respire  ou  briUe  dans 
chaque  detail  comme  dans  I'ensemble.  II  te  faut  le  style,  en  un  mot.  II  te 
faut  encore,  s'il  se  peut,  le  sentiment,  un  coin  de  sympathie,  un  rayon  moral 
qui  te  traverse  et  qui  te  vienne  eclairer;  ...  autrement,  bient6t  tu  nous  laisses 
froids,  indifferents,  ...  nous  nous  ennuyons  de  ne  point  trouver  en  toi  notre 
part  et  notre  place.  II  te  faut  encore,  et  c'est  la  le  plus  beau  triomphe,  il  te 
faut,  tout  en  etant  observee  et  respectee,  je  ne  sais  quoi  qui  t'accomplisse  et 
qui  t'acheve,  qui  te  rectifie  sans  te  fausser,  qui  t'eleve  sans  te  faire  perdre 
terre,  qui  te  donne  tout  I'esprit  que  tu  peux  avoir  sans  cesser  un  moment  de 
paraitre  naturelle,  qui  te  laisse  reconnaissable  a  tous,  mais  plus  lumineuse 
que  dans  I'ordinaire  de  la  vie,  plus  adorable  et  plus  belle  ...  ce  qu'on  appelle 
Vid^al  enfin. 

Que  si  tout  cela  te  manque  et  que  tu  te  homes  strictement  a  ce  que  tu 
es,  sans  presque  nul  choix  et  selon  le  hasard  de  la  rencontre,  si  tu  te  tiens  a 
tes  pauvretes  ...  et  a  tes  rugosites  de  tou  tes  sortes,  eh  bien!  je  t' accepter  ai 
encore,  et  s'il  fallait  opter,  je  te  prefererais  meme  ainsi,  pauvre  et  mediocre, 
mais  prise  sur  le  fait,  mais  sincere,  a  toutes  les  chimeres  brillantes,  aux  f antaisies, 
aux  imaginations  les  plus  folles  ou  les  plus  fines  ...  parcequ'il  y  a  en  toi  la 
source,  le  fond  humain  et  naturel  duquel  tout  jaillit  a  son  heure,  et  un  attrait 
de  verite,  parfois  un  inattendu  touchant,  que  rien  ne  vaut  et  ne  rechete.^ 

*  Brownell,  op.  cit.,  pp.  62-63. 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  137.  This  passage  occurs  in  his  consideration  of  Champ- 
fleury's  Violon  de  Faience.  Art  must  have  the  ideal  to  redeem  the  true.  Zola's 
Th6rise  Racquin  "en  r6duisant  I'art  k  n'6tre  que  la  seule  et  simple  v6rit6  [elle]  me 
paralt  hors  de  cette  v6rit6"  {Correspondance,  II,  314). 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  57 

This  remarkable  passage,  reproduced  at  this  length  because  of  its 
importance,  might  well  be  taken  as  Sainte-Beuve's  literary  credo — 
reality  treated  with  sentiment  and  art.  This  demand  for  truth  to  life 
here  in  connection  with  realism  is  a  classical  and  humanistic  doctrine, 
and  Sainte-Beuve  is  only  saying  in  another  way:  *'Rien  n'est  beau  que 
le  vrai,  le  vrai  seul  est  aimable."  In  this  respect  the  classicists  and  the 
realists  join  hands  indeed,  are  united  to  so  great  an  extent  that  one  is 
justified  in  distinguishing  not  three  types  of  literature — classical, 
romantic,  and  reaUstic — ^but  two,  humanistic  and  romantic;  for  the 
genuine  reaUsts  and  the  true  classicists  are  one  in  their  demand  for  that 
truth  to  life  which  the  romanticists  are  inclined  to  disregard  or  more 
actively  to  repudiate. 

Sainte-Beuve  makes  an  adequate  synthesis  of  the  best  thinking  con- 
cerning realism  in  art  when  he  distinguishes  between  reaUty  as  truth  to 
Hfe  and  reahty  as  mere  fact.  While  reaUty  he  feels  is  eminently  both 
the  field  and  the  product  of  art,  mere  fact  demands  artistic  treatment 
if  it  is  to  produce  artistic  results.  Where  purely  scientific  and  factual 
truth  begins,  Hterature  ends — or  perhaps  the  converse  of  this  statement  is 
more  just,  hterature  begins  where  scientific  fact  ends.  "Gardez-vous 
de  rhistoire.  ...  Evitons  dans  Tart  serieux  de  rendre  trop  sensible  la 
divorce  entre  la  poesie  et  la  verite,"^  meaning  here  by  verite  this  factual 
aspect  of  truth.  True  he  is  speaking  here  only  of  poetry,  but  in  the 
passage  quoted  above  he  makes  the  same  demand  for  all  hterature. 

Art  must  transcend  and  purify  its  subject-matter,  the  ultimate 
truth,  but  when  it  fails  to  keep  to  the  basis  of  reaUty  in  this  higher  sense 
it  repudiates  its  essential  function.  Again  and  again  Sainte-Beuve 
condemns  a  work  or  a  character,  "ce  n'est  pas  vrai,"  and  means  that 
it  is  not  true  to  life.^ 

The  third  of  the  critical  criteria  that  make  up  Sainte-Beuve's 
testing  equipment  is  tradition.    He  means  by  this  the  corpus  of  ideas  and 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  306.  On  the  other  hand:  "Vous  aimez,  monsieur,  dans 
la  po6sie  la  r6alit6  et  le  sentiment:  je  suis  de  cette  m^me  6cole"  {Correspondance,  I, 
170).  Let  us  recognize  once  for  all  that  Sainte-Beuve  did  not  and  could  not  make 
the  distinction  between  reality  and  verity  which  has  grown  up  in  critical  thinking  since 
his  time. 

» It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Sainte-Beuve  often  decides  truth  to  life  on  a  basis 
of  tradition.  It  is  of  course  obvious  that  in  the  demand  for  truth  to  life  one  has  to 
ask  "truth  to  whose  life?"  Sainte-Beuve  claims  that  there  are  laws  of  this  as  well 
as  of  the  other  aspects  of  literature.  He  says:  "Le  roman  n'est  pas  entiSrement 
d'accord  avec  la  v6rit6  humaine,  avec  I'entiere  verit6  telle  que  les  grands  peintres  de  la 
passion  I'ont  de  tout  temps  congue"  {Nouveaux  lundis^  VII,  146). 


58       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

customs  which  has  drawn  together  throughout  the  ages,  concerning  the 
content  and  the  form  of  art.  In  trying  to  reconstitute  Sainte-Beuve's 
C  idea  of  it  we  must  examine  his  opinion  on  the  French  tradition — the  vari- 
ous elements  that  go  to  make  it  up,  and  the  schools  that  have  contributed 
to  it.  There  is,  Sainte-Beuve  believes,  a  prevaiUng  tradition  in  French 
literature,  the  classical,  and  so  far  from  being  a  shallow  assumption  or 
a  pose  it  is  something  deeply  ingrained  in  French  national  character 
and  taste: 

II  y  a  una  tradition:  qui  le  nierait?  Elle  existe  pour  nous  toute  trac6e, 
elle  est  visible,  comme  une  de  ces  avenues  et  de  ces  voies  immenses,  grandioses, 
qui  traversaient  autrefois  I'Empire,  et  qui  aboutissaient  a  la  Ville  par  excellence. 
Descendants  des  Remains,  ...  nous  avons  a  embrasser,  a  comprendre,  a  ne 
jamais  deserter  Theritage  de  ces  maitres  et  de  ces  peres  illustres,  heritage  ... 
qui  forme  le  plus  clair  et  le  plus  solide  de  notre  fonds  intellectuel.  Cette 
tradition  ...  consiste  en  un  certain  principe  de  raison  et  de  culture  qui  a 
V  penetre  a  la  longue,  pour  le  modifier,  dans  le  caractere  meme  de  cette  nation 

gauloise,  et  qui  est  entre  des  longtemps  jusque  dans  la  trempe  des  esprits. 
C'est  la  tout  ce  qu'il  importe  de  ne  pas  laisser  perdre,  ce  qu'il  faut  ne  point 
souffrir  qu'on  altere  ...  sans  avertir  du  moins  et  sans  s'alarmer  comme  dans 
un  peril  commun.^ 

It  is  this  classical  tradition,  the  legacy  from  the  Greeks  and  Latins, 
which  we  must  strive  to  preserve.  There  has  never  been  a  great  writer, 
says  Sainte-Beuve,  outside  this  tradition;  they  all  knew  and  embodied 
its  essential  ideas.  Not  even  Shakespeare,  he  claims,  was  without  it.* 
Sainte-Beuve  himself  was  distinctly  and  consciously  in  the  Une: 

He  possessed  a  delicate  taste  for  beautiful  work  and  a  strong  respect  for 
the  traditions  which  have  fostered  it.  Here  is  the  universal  and  abiding 
element  of  his  talent.  He  has  a  sense  for  the  classical,  balancing  and  employ- 
ing his  restless  instinct  for  individuality.  In  this  respect  it  may  be  said  that 
two  schools  of  art  and  indeed  two  centuries  so  widely  separated  as  the  seven- 
teenth and  nineteenth  find  in  him  their  representative.  He  ei^tertained  for 
the  long  tried  opinion  and  generally  approved  judgments  of  competent  prede- 
cessors, an  almost  reverent  respect  ...  He  was  practical  enough  also  to 
perceive  the  advantage  of  classicism  as  consecrating  a  stable  body  of  accepted 
opinions.  He  appreciated  the  simplicity  and  the  general  sufficiency  of  these 
standards  in  the  case  of  French  literature.  In  spite  of  his  skeptical  habit, 
in  spite  of  his  distrust  of  theory  and  doctrine,  he  too,  like  Bossuet,  whom  he 
deeply  respected,  was  ever  seeking  eternal  law  under  the  discordant  contra- 
dictions of  human  history .3 

*  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  357. 

» Ibid.,  p.  366.  3  Harper,  op.  cit.,  p.  137. 


I 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM        ^_  50 

As  he  grew  older  this  approval  of  the  classical  became  more  pronounced 
and  more  outspoken.  "He  sided  more  and  more  with  the  Olympians 
against  the  Titans."^  He  increasingly  identified  things  normal,  sane, 
healthy,  with  the  classical,  things  unsound  and  abnormal  with  the 
romantic.^  He  carefully  defined  "the  classic"  in  his  article  "De  la 
tradition  en  litterature"  in  Volume  XV  of  the  Lundis: 

Le  classique,  en  effet,  dans  son  caractere  le  plus  general  at  dans  sa  plus 
large  definition,  comprend  les  Htteratures  a  I'etat  de  sante  et  de  fleur  heureuse, 
les  Htteratures  en  plein  accord  et  en  harmonie  avec  leur  epoque,  avec  leur  cadre 
social,  avec  les  principes  et  les  pouvoirs  dirigeants  de  la  societe  ...  les  ht- 
teratures qui  sent  et  qui  se  sentent  chez  elles,  dans  leur  voie,  non  d6class6es, 
non  troublantes.3 

Elsewhere  he  quotes  Goethe  to  the  same  efifect.  "  J'appelle  le  classique 
le  sain,  et  le  romantique  le  malade.'^  A  classic  is  a  writer  in  accord  with 
his  time;  a  romantic,  one  who  is  not.-*  To  Sainte-Beuve,  however,  the 
supreme  beauty,  indeed  the  only  real  beauty,  is  to  be  found  within 
that  classical  tradition  which  once  or  twice  in  the  history  of  the  world 
has  come  to  full  flower: 

Quand  je  parle  de  beaute,  je  m'entends,  et  je  m'addresse  a  ceux  qui  savent 
de  quoi  il  s'agit,  lorsqu'ils  prononcent  ce  mot.  II  peut  y  avoir  dans  un  ouvrage 
de  I'habilete  ...  sans  qu'il  y'ait  veritablement  beaute.  ...  Relisez  un  chant 
d'Homere,  une  scene  de  Sophocle,  un  choeur  d'Euripide,  un  livre  de  Virgile! 
grandeur  ou  fiamme  du  sentiment,  eclat  de  I'expression,  et  s'il  se  peut,  harmonie 
de  composition  et  d 'ensemble,  ...  ce  sont  la  quelques — uns  des  traits  et  des 
conditions  de  cette  beaute  plus  aisee  a  sentir  qu'a  definir.  ...  EUe  n'a  brille 
dans  ses  parfaits  exemplaires,  cette  incomparable  beaute,  qu'une  seule  fois  ou 
peut-etre  deux  fois  sous  le  soleil.s 

And  again  he  writes  "le  beau  semble  appartenir  plus  exclusivement  a 
I'antiquite."^ 

In  the  article  "De  la  tradition  en  Htterature"  he  traces  the  course 
of  this,  to  him,  paramount  tradition  through  the  ages.    Hellenic  art 

'  Babbitt,  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism,  p.  137. 

^  Ibid.,  XV,  369.  To  be  sure  he  always  admired  romantic  feeling  and  treatment, 
provided  they  were  noble,  as  his  admiration  for  Shakespeare  -and  his  love  for 
Musset  show,  and  he  did  say  of  the  Romantic  movement  as  late  as  185 1,  it  is  one 
"que  j'aime,  dont  je  m'honore  d'etre,  moi  indigne,  dont  les  amis,  toutes  les  admira- 
tions de  ma  jeunesse,  ont  €t6,  dont  tous  ceux  qui  survivent  sont  encore"  (Nouveaux 
lundis,  III,  97). 

3  Ibid.,  p.  369.        4  Causeries  du  lundi.  III,  46.        s  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  377. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  409.  He  repeats  the  same  thought  in  the  article  "Qu'est  ce  qu'un 
classique"  in  Causeries  du  lundi,  III. 


6o      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

was  and  still  is  supreme — the  source  and  fountainhead  of  all  subsequent 
artistic  inspiration.  One  may  well  question,  he  says,  whether  or  not 
all  the  productions  of  all  the  other  Hteratures  are  worth  a  single  master- 
piece of  Greek  art.  From  Greece  he  traces  the  stream  to  Rome  where 
it  created  Latin  literature.  All  great  writers  in  the  occidental  world 
have  been  of  this  tradition,  have  derived  their  inspiration  from  antiquity, 
and  have  been  dominated  by  this  souffle  helUnique.  To  this  prevailing 
line  of  tradition  coming  down  from  Greece,  the  Middle  Ages  added  one 
powerful  element  when,  to  the  tradition  of  Atticism  and  urbanity,  they 
added  "le  sentiment  deUcat  de  I'amour  et  de  la  courtoisie  chevaleresque  " 
and  the  chivalric  service  of  the  lady  as  an  ideal  ;^  that  and  Christian 
antiquity  "litterairement  imparfaite,  moralement  superieure"  are  the 
only  accretions  of  the  modern  world  to  the  ancient  tradition. 

What  is  true  of  literary  inspiration  in  general  is  true  in  particular 
of  the  spirit  that  moves  in  literary  criticism — that  it  derives  from  this 
unbroken  classical  tradition:  "En  critique  corome  en  morale,  les  anciens 
ont  trouve  toutes  les  grandes  lois ;  les  modernes  n'ont  fait  le  plus  souvent 
que  raflSner  spirituellement  sur  les  details."*  The  one  time  in  history 
since  the  mighty  Hellenic  days,  when  it  came  to  full  flower,  is  the  age  of 
Louis  XIV,  the  grand  sUcle,  the  triumphant  moment  of  French  literature. 
As  a  classicist  and  a  humanist  Sainte-Beuve  felt  that  in  this  moment 
French  letters  reached  the  apogee.  To  be  real  critics  we  must  have 
knowledge  of  classical  art  both  at  its  fountainhead  and  as  it  has  expressed 
itself  in  this  French  thought  and  art.^  Literature  then  was  classical,  in 
both  the  senses  in  which  he  used  the  word,  since  it  both  produced  the 
greatest  Uterary  masters  of  the  nation  and  at  the  same  time  followed 
most  closely  the  artistic  spirit  of  the  ancients.^    The  work  of  this 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  360  flf. 

» Ibid.,  I,  13. 

»  Sainte-Beuve  lays  some  stress  on  the  need  of  classical  training  for  a  literary  man. 
We  shall  have  to  study  antiquity  from  our  earliest  youth  and  make  it  ours  when  our 
minds  are  impressionable  {Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  47).  What  a  privation  it  is  not  to 
know  Greek!  "Avoue,"  says  Pindar,  "que  c'est  la  plus  grande  amertume  pour 
I'homme  de  connaltre  les  belles  choses  et  de  s'en  voir  le  pied  dehors  par  n6c6ssit6." 
"Appliquez  cela,"  comments  Sainte-Beuve,  "k  la  litt6rature  grecque,  i  ceux  qui  le 
savent  et  en  sont  priv6s"  {Cahiers,  p.  152). 

4  It  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  the  distinction  between  the  two  senses  of  the 
term  "classical"  in  Sainte-Beuve,  the  difference  between  a  "classical  writer"  and  a 
"classic."  The  former  is  a  writer  in  the  tradition  of  the  ancients;  the  latter  Sainte- 
Beuve  defines  thus:  "Un  vrai  classique — c'est  un  auteur  qui  a  enrichi  I'esprit  humain, 
qui  en  a  r^ellement  augments  le  tr^sor,  qui  lui  a  fait  faire  un  pas  de  plus,  qui  a  d6couvert 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  6i 

consummate  age  was  Sainte-Beuve's  perpetual  standard  for  com- 
parison: 

He  never  questioned  the  personal  authority  of  Bossuet,  nor  the  beauty 
and  propriety  of  Racine's  matured  style,  nor  the  sanity  of  Mme  de  Sevigne. 
With  the  utmost  distinctness  he  conceived  of  seventeenth-century  literature 
as  an  entity,  an  organism,  a  thing  complete  in  itself.  Its  excellence  was  to  him 
self-evident.  He  could  never  have  been  brought  to  share  Renan's  opinion 
that  it  was  empty  and  unedifying.  It  gave  him  a  standard.  To  this  test  he 
brought  the  sixteenth  century  the  eighteenth;  and  ultimately  the  nineteenth.' 

In  matters  of  style  as  in  those  of  philosophy  and  ideas  he  finds  his  model 
and  standard  in  this  seventeenth  century.  He  often  wished  for  a  return 
of  that  moderate  and  pellucid  yet  colorful  writing,  the  secret  of  which 
the  merest  dames  de  cour  of  the  great  age  seemed  to  have  at  their  pen 
points.  We  have  quoted  in  another  connection  the  passage  of  mag- 
nificent eloquence  in  which  he  voices  his  enthusiasm  for  the  "noble  and 
mighty  harmony  of  the  grand  siecle,"^  and  many  other  passages  in 
which  he  speaks  with  admiration  equally  sincere,  if  less  eloquent,  could 
be  added.  Indeed  one  finally  comes  to  feel  that  on  this  point  Sainte- 
Beuve  displays  something  less  than  his  characteristic  balance  of  mind 
and  complete  catholic  receptivity.  It  assumes  the  proportions  of  a 
"fixed  idea,"  a  state  of  mind  quite  unexpected  in  him  who  in  other 
things  invariably  provided  room  for  un  certain  contraire. 

In  spite  of  his  enthusiasm — rather  because  of  it — Sainte-Beuve 
judged  very  severely  the  classical  school  of  the  eighteenth  and  early 
nineteenth  centuries,  recognizing  it  as  the  merest  neo-classicism,  not  a 
reincarnation  of  the  Hellenic  or  the  Roman  spirit,  but  a  dead  imitation 
of  the  ancient  forms.  To  the  pseudo-classical  school  of  the  eighteenth 
century  he  had  a  positive  aversion;  he  had  no  words  of  condemnation 
too  strong  for  writers  like  Jean  Baptiste  Rousseau  and  Louis  Racine, 


quelque  v6rit6  morale  non  equivoque,  ou  ressaisi  quelque  passion  6ternelle  dans  le 
coeur  o^  tout  semblait  connu  et  explore;  qui  a  rendu  sa  pensee,  son  observation  ou 
son  invention,  sous  une  forme  n'importe  laquelle,  mais  large  et  grande,  fine  et  sens6e, 
saine  et  belle  en  soi;  qui  a  parl6  a  tons  dans  un  style  i  lui  et  qui  se  trouve  aussi  celui  de 
tout  le  monde,  dans  un  style  nouveau  sans  neologisme,  nouveau  et  antique,  ais6ment 
contemporain  de  tons  les  ages"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  42).  In  this  sense  a  roman- 
ticist may  be  a  "classic." 

^  Harper,  op.  cit.,p.  324.  It  seems,  however,  that  he  became  at  times  dissatisfied 
even  with  this  ideal.  "  Je  ne  sais  si  beaucoup  de  gens  sont  comme  moi,  mais  j'avoue 
que  par  moments  je  commence  ^  en  avoir  assez  de  la  litt^rature  du  XVII*"®  si^le" 
{Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  371;  cf.  also  p.  257). 

^  Cf.  supra,  p.  18. 


62       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

whose  work  he  regarded  as  but  a  servile  and  empty  imitation  of  the 
forms  of  the  great  age: 

Que  d'imitation  des  Grecs  aux  Latins,  de  ceux-ci  aux  Italians,  aux  modemes. 
Le  m^me  fends  poetique  a  ete  exploit^  a  satiete  et  remanie.  La  forme  seule 
s'est  renouvellee  un  peu  a  la  surface.  L'invention  est  souvent  aussi  mince 
que  la  feuille  d'or  ou  d'argent  qui  recouvre  le  cuivre.' 

It  is,  then,  the  spirit  of  the  classical  tradition — its  sanity,  modera- 
tion, dignity,  beauty — that  the  artist  must  try  to  appropriate  and  to 
re-embody;  he  does  nothing  if  he  makes  a  formal  copy  of  some  great 
predecessor.  "L'artiste  doit  ^tre  de  son  temps,"  and  when  he  imitates 
he  ceases  to  be  "de  son  temps. "^ 

One  of  Sainte-Beuve's  essential  doctrines  was  that  of  the  continuous 
progress  of  the  human  mind.  He  was  fond  of  the  figure  of  a  great  river 
as  suggesting  the  continuous  irresistible  and  beneficent  onward  sweep 
of  the  spirit  of  the  race.  Any  such  attitude  as  that  assumed  by  the 
pseudo-classical  artist  creates  at  the  best  an  eddy,  a  side  current  apart 
from  the  main  stream,  and  at  the  worst,  as  in  the  case  of  the  mere  imita- 
tions, becomes  a  stagnant  shallow  without  life  or  motion.  Over- 
whelmed by  the  treatment  of  the  genuine  classic,  they  may  say:  "All 
the  great  things  have  been  done;  nothing  remains  but  to  enjoy  them 
and  imitate  them."  But  after  years  of  such  enjoyment  and  such 
production  what  goal  have  we  reached  ?  Alas,  one  may  be  learned  and 
distinguished  "mais  immobile,  mais  borne,  ferme  et  tout  a  fait  etranger 
a  la  vraie  activite  intellectuelle  tou jours  renaissante."^  The  artist  and 
"critiques  classiques  qui  se  fiattent  de  n'avoir  pas  varie  depuis  trente  ans, 
ceux  qui  n'ont  cesse  de  rester  fideles  dans  leurs  recommandations  a  tous 
les  procedes  et  a  toutes  les  routines  d'academie  et  d'atelier,"  must  give 
way  in  favor  of  the  really  classical  writers  who  reinterpret  the  ancient 
spirit  in  a  modern  way,  for  example  as  did  Andre  Chenier^  when  he 
cried  in  a  famous  passage:  "Sur  des  pensers  nouveaux  faisons  des  vers 
antiques."  Chenier's  work  breathes  the  sanity,  the  beauty,  the  inde- 
finable exaltation,  the  inimitable  distinction  of  the  truly  classical. 

The  French  tradition  is,  then,  the  classical  tradition  modified  as  a 
matter  of  course  by  a  certain  Gallic  quaUty  which  harmonizes  on  the 
whole  with  the  other  elements.  There  are  lands,  Sainte-Beuve  says, 
where  the  classic  tradition  cannot  survive:   "II  y  a  des  langues  et  des 

*  Cahiers,  p.  i66. 

"  Causeries  du  lundi,  XII,  15.    See  also  on  imitation  of  ancients,  ibid.,  Ill,  49. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  73.  *  Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  438. 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  63 

litteratures  ouvertes  de  toutes  parts  et  non  circonscrites  auxquelles  je 
ne  me  figure  pas  qu'on  puisse  appliquer  le  mot  de  classique.  Je  ne  me 
figure  pas  qu'on  dise  'les  classiques  allemands.'"^  But  to  the  French- 
man there  is  something  native  and  congenial  in  the  tradition — the  word 
comes  naturally  to  the  lips  in  speaking  of  his  best  work;  he  adopts  the 
ancient  raison  and  sanity  of  the  classic;  he  lightens  and  modifies  them 
by  his  own  sociability ,2  and  by  his  theatricahty.^  The  core  of  French 
thought  and  artistic  achievement  is  the  Hellenic  tradition  molded  and 
adapted  by  the  exigencies  of  modern  time  and  place.^ 

Sainte-Beuve's  classicism  occasionally  assumed  the  form  of  a  human- 
istic protest  against  the  presumptuous  excesses  of  scientific  naturahsm, 
the  superincumbent  weight  of  vapid  idealism,  or  the  lawless  profusion 
of  irresponsible  romanticism.  This  brings  us,  however,  by  another 
path  upon  that  irreconcilable  contradiction  in  his  thought  that  we  were 
obliged  to  recognize  in  studying  his  naturalism,  the  contradiction  between 
the  humanist  and  the  scientist,  the  devotee  of  tradition  and  the  believer 
in  progress,  the  apostle  of  the  ancients  and  the  champion  of  the  moderns, 
for  Sainte-Beuve  was  all  these  at  one  and  the  same  time;  chameleon-like 
he  changed  color  with  the  material  he  was  concerned  with,  or  rather,  true 
to  one  of  his  own  principles,  he  took  on  the  tone  and  atmosphere  of  the 
work  he  discussed. 

This  dual  activity  of  his  mind  produced  his  divided  and  discordant 
attitude  toward  his  own  epoch.  The  humanist  in  him  assured  him  that 
the  nineteenth  century  was  a  degeneration,  his  belief  in  a  preceding 
classical  age  compelled  him  to  view  his  own  time  as  decadent.  The 
distinguishing  mark  of  decadence  is   exaggeration — of  excellences,  till 

*  Cahiers,  p.  108. 

'  "Le  Frangais  est  sociable.  ...  II  faut  laisser  aux  peuples  divers  leur  g^nie,  tout  en 
cherchant  a  le  feconder  et  k  Tdtendre.  Le  Fran^ais  est  sociable,  et  il  Test  surtout 
par  la  parole  ...  et  les  arts  ont  besoin,  en  general,  pour  lui  plaire  et  pour  reussir  tout 
a  fait  chez  lui,  de  rencontrer  cette  disposition  premi&re  de  son  esprit  et  de  s'identifier 
au  moins  en  passant  avec  elle"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  IX,  311). 

3  The  entrance  of  M^tho  into  Carthage  through  the  viaduct  in  Flaubert's 
Salammbd:  "C'est  bien  de  I'extraordinaire  et  du  th^atral  on  I'avouera  ...  disait  un 
de  mes  amis.  ...  'II  y  a  toujours  de  I'opdra  dans  tout  ce  que  font  les  Frangais,  meme 
ceux  qui  se  piquent  de  r6eV  "  This  "ami"  is  probably  nonexistent,  but  Sainte- 
Beuve  often  used  this  device  to  say  things  he  wished  not  to  say  in  his  own  person 
{Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  61). 

4  "L'artiste  doit  ^tre  de  son  temps,  doit  porter  dans  son  oeuvre  le  cachet  de  son 
temps — a  ce  prix  est  la  vie  durable,  comme  le  succes.  ...  Tdchons  dans  nos  oeuvres 
d'exprimer  I'esprit  de  notre  si^cle,  de  dire  a  notre  heure  ce  qui  n'a  pas  et6  dit  encore ' 
{Causeries  du  lundi,  XII,  15). 


64       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

they  become  defects  or  at  least  mannerisms;  of  defects,  till  they  become 
unpardonable  faults.  It  is  precisely  this  exaggeration,  this  over-emphasis, 
which  Sainte-Beuve  finds  to  be  the  main  fault  of  his  contemporaries. 
"J'ai  le  deuil  dans  le  cceur,"  he  cries  bitterly,  "  j'ai  le  deuil  de  la  civilisa- 
tion que  je  sens  perir.  Oh!  comme  on  comprend  mieux  [by  contrast] 
en  ce  moment  que  c'est  une  invention  delicate  et  subUme."'  The 
Romantics  have  succeeded  in  destroying  delicacy,  the  indispensable 
element  in  good  taste:  "Nous  allons  tomber  dans  une  grossierete 
immense,  le  peu  qui  nous  restait  de  la  Princesse  de  Clhes  va  s'abimer 
pour  jamais  et  s'aboUr";'  and  again,  "L'epoque  devient  grossiere,  elle 
n'estime  que  la  gros  qu'elle  prend  pour  le  grand;  elle  se  prend  a  I'eti- 
quette,  a  la  montre,  a  ce  qui  peut  faire  du  bruit,  ou  etre  utile  positive- 
ment;  I'esprit  htteraire  veritable  est  tout  le  contraire  de  cela."^  This 
was  his  constant  quarrel  with  those  of  his  own  time — that  they  were 
guilty  of  exaggeration,  they  offered  a  gross  superabundance,  they  dis- 
played force  raised  to  the  power  of  mere  violence — and  the  egregious 
thing  and  the  dangerous  thing  in  his  eyes  was  that  they  made  a  virtue 
of  all  this.  "  Je  le  sais,  la  doctrine  du  trop,  de  Texageration  dite  legitime, 
de  la  monstruosite  meme,  prise  pour  marque  du  genie,  est  a  I'ordre  du 
jour."  This  is  repugnant  to  his  humanistic  good  taste.  "  Je  demande," 
he  continues,  "a  n'en  etre  [de  la  doctrine]  que  sous  toute  reserve;  j'habite 
volontiers  en  dega,  et  j'ai  garde  de  mes  vieilles  habitudes  litteraires  le 
besoin  de  ne  pas  me  fatiguer  et  meme  le  desir  de  me  plaire  a  ce  que 
j'admire."^  The  same  avowal  is  in  this:  "J'ai,  je  Tavoue,  en  matiere 
de  goiit,  un  grand  faible;  j'aime  ce  qui  est  agreable."s  Here  speaks  the 
humanist,  the  aesthetic  in  his  call  for  pleasantness  in  art,  in  his  avowal 
of  his  demand  that  it  yield  pleasure,  and  in  his  illusions  of  decadence. 

At  the  cost  of  what  may  seem  only  a  slightly  relevant  discussion,  it 
seems  well  to  say  something  further  here  about  Sainte-Beuve's  view  of 
his  contemporaries,  of  the  exponents  of  both  schools,  the  romanticists 
and  the  realists.  It  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  himself  in  his 
youth  of  the  literary  household  of  romanticism.  He  surrendered  him- 
self completely  (the  only  place  or  time  in  his  life  when  he  did  surrender 
himself)  to  what  afterward  seemed  to  him  the  hypnotic  domination  of 
the  Cenacle.  Under  this  influence  he  wrote  his  Joseph  Delormey  his 
novel  Volupte,  which  to  the  Sainte-Beuve  of  the  Causeries  must  have 
seemed  the  veriest  Romantic   indiscretions.    However,  all  his  life  he 

^  Cahiers,  p.  102. 

'Ibid.,  p.  85.  < Nouveaux  lundiSf  VIII,  95. 

3  Portraits  contemporains,  V,  458.  s  Ibid.,  X,  403. 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  65 

kept  a  tender  place  in  his  heart  for  his  early  literary  group/  He  also 
retained  throughout  certain  mental  habits  acquired  in  his  Romantic 
days,  and  he  often  experienced  a  recrudescence  of  Romantic  enthusiasm 
and  ideaUsm.  But  with  the  Chateaubriand  in  1848  his  classical  revulsion 
of  feeling  set  in,  and  artistically  and  professionally  he  changed  camp. 
In  1858  he  wrote  this: 

Le  romantique  a  la  nostalgia,  comme  Hamlet:  il  cherche  ce  qu'il  n'a  pas, 
et  jusque  par  dela  les  nuages;  il  reve,  il  vit  dans  les  songes.  Au  dix-neuvieme 
siecle,  il  adore  le  moyen  age;  aji  dix-huitieme,  il  est  deja  revolutionnaire  avec 
Rousseau.  Au  sens  de  Goethe,  il  y  des  reman tiques  de  divers  temps;  le  jeune 
homme  de  Chrysostome,  Stagyre,  Augustin  dans  sa  jeunesse,  6taient  des 
romantiques,  des  Renes  anticipes,  des  malades;  mais  c'etaient  des  malades 
pour  guerir,  et  le  Christianisme  les  a  gu6ris;  il  a  exorcis6  le  demon.  Hamlet, 
Werther,  Childe-Harold,  les  Renes  purs,  sont  des  malades  pour  chanter  et 
souffrir,  pour  jouir  de  leur  mal,  des  romantiques  plus  on  moins  par  dilet- 
tantisme — la  maladie  pour  la  maladie.* 

To  romanticism  he  traced  many  of  the  faults  that  he  found  in  his  later 
contemporaries;  he  condemned  it  as  full  of  affectation,  as  exaggerated 
to  the  point  of  violence,  as  guilty  of  the  repudiation  of  reality  and 
sanity. 

The  case  was  different,  though  not  better,  with  the  realists.  They 
were  content  to  linger  in  the  region  of  mere  fact,  whereas  he  regarded 
bare  fact  as  only  the  foundation  on  which  to  erect  the  Uterary  super- 
structure. He  attributes  to  the  "ecrivains  dits  realisks^'  the  fault  "de 
chercher  peut-etre  outre  mesure  la  verite."^  His  most  trenchant  criti- 
cism of  the  realists  occurs  in  his  studies  of  Flaubert  and  of  the  De  Gon- 
courts.  He  blames  them,  not  for  setting  down  in  their  search  for  reality 
what  is  vulgar  and  mean,  but  for  going  out  of  their  way  to  find  the  vulgar 
and  mean.4  This  obsession  of  the  reaUsts  with  the  disagreeable,  with 
what  he  calls  the  *' aggressively  unpleasant,"  he  deplores  and  regards 
as  the  evidence  of  their  decadence.  Their  sordid  detail,  their  lack  of 
beauty  and  elevation,  their  preoccupation  with  the  mean  and  vulgar 
put  them  out  of  court  as  artists.^ 

This  concludes  the  discussion  of  Sainte-Beuve's  attitude  toward 
tradition  as  one  of  the  great  critical  criteria.  We  may  say  that  we  have 
in  general  exhibited  the  following:  He  recognized  a  prevailing  tradi- 
tion, the  classical,  based  on  Greek  and  Latin  standards  and  coming  again 

^  Harper,  op.  cit.,  p.  14;  cf.  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  97,  and  Cahiers,  p.  132,  etc. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  371.  ^  Ibid.,  X,  400;   IV,  40. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  14.  s  Cf.  on  Zola,  Correspondance,  II,  314. 


66      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

into  full  bloom  in  France  in  the  seventeenth  century;   he  formed  his 
opinions  on  the  nature,  form,  and  content  of  literature  under  the  influ- 
j  ence  of  this  tradition,  modified  by  a  slight  measure  of  Romantic  liberal- 
l  ism,  a  survival  from  the  ideals  and  associations  of  his  early  Uterary  life. 
Much  light  is  thrown  upon  Sainte-Beuve's  taste  and  its  practical 
critical  operation  by  observing  what  authors  he  admired  and  used  as 
bases  of  comparison.     Whom  did  he  regard  as  classics,  as  types,  whose 
standing  was  firm  enough,  whose  repute  was  universal  enough  to  quaUfy 
them  as  standards  of  measurement  ?     The  following  names  give  us  cer- 
tain of  his  pierres  de  louche;  but  they  do  not  exhaust  his  Ust.    Foremost, 
\  of  course,  among  his  models  and  standards  stand,  as  the  great  poets  of 
j  all  time.  Homer,  Horace,  Shakespeare;  and  there  too  we  find  the  greatest 
of  critics,  Goethe — "notre  maitre  a  tous."    These  are  the  fixed  stars  in 
his  firmament,  the  constellations  by  which  he  steered  his  critical  craft. 
It  is  Shakespeare  and  Goethe  whom  he  continually  and  most  effectively 
used  as  measures  of  excellence.    He  put  no  French  writer  beside  them, 
acknowledging  that  France  had  not  produced  a  supreme  literary  master. 
Euripides,  Sophocles,  Cicero,  Quintilian,  Virgil,  among  the  ancients, 
are  placed  only  a  little  lower  on  the  scale  than  Horace  and  Homer. 
From  across  the  Channel,  next  to  Shakespeare,  he  placed  high  the  great 
English  classicist.  Pope,  to  whom  he  very  frequently  referred.^    It  has 
been  necessary  to  speak  in  many  connections  of  Sainte-Beuve's  unlimited 
',  admiration  of  the  great  French  classic  writers.     Montaigne  and  Rabelais 
are  established  as  masters  before  the  seventeenth  century;   then  come 
Boileau,  La  Fontaine,  Racine,  MoUere,^  Bossuet,  Mme  de    Sevign6, 
Mme  de  Maintenon,  and  later,  in  the  next  century,  Fenelon,  and  Vol- 
taire— all  these  claim  his  fealty.    Andre  Chenier  was  to  him  the  ideal 
literary  artist,  combining  classical  spirit  and  form  with  modern  subject- 
matter.^    In  the  nineteenth  century  his  enthusiasm  centered  mainly 
about  Mme  de  Stael  and  Chateaubriand.    The  romanticists  and  the 
reaHsts,  who  constituted  the  main  body  of  nineteenth-century  literary 
artists,  were  too  individualistic  to  stand  as  types  and  standards,  and 
the  inevitable  bUndness  of  contemporaneity  no  doubt  obscured  some  of 
their  merits. 
C        The  fourth  of  Sainte-Beuve's  criteria  for  judgment  which  may  be 
I  deduced  from  his  work,  for  nowhere  does  he  baldly  lay  it  down  as  a 

*  His  appreciation  of  Pope  he  expressed  in  a  fine  essay  {Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII, 
104,  passim). 

'  Cf.  ibid.,  V,  277  ff.,  where  he  takes  these  as  standards  and  types. 
>  On  Andr6  Ch6nier  see  Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  438;  III,  114,  etc. 


AESTHETIC  CRITICISM  67 

principle,  is  logic  and  consistency.  It  is  so  essential  and  fundamental  a 
requisite  that  the  artist  shall  not  contradict  himself,  shall  think  straight 
and  use  the  right  words  to  express  his  thoughts,  that  Sainte-Beuve  must 
have  felt  there  was  no  need  to  establish  as  a  principle  that  these  things 
should  be  demanded  of  all  writers.  Any  work  must  be  logical  and 
consistent  in  the  mass  as  well  as  in  the  detail.  It  is,  however,  easy  and 
certain  to  infer  his  thought  on  this  matter  from  passages  like  the  following 
on  Zola's  Therese  Racquin.  Zola  has  claimed  that  vice  and  virtue  are 
products  like  acid  and  sugar,  and  Sainte-Beuve  comments: 

II  s'ensuivrait  qu'un  crime  explique  et  motiv6  comma  celui  que  vous 
exposez  n'est  pas  chose  si  miraculeuse  et  si  monstrueuse,  et  on  se  demande  des 
lors  pourquoi  tout  cet  appareil  de  remords  qui  n'est  qu'une  transformation 
et  una  transposition  du  ramords  moral  ordinaire,  du  remords  chretian,  et  una 
sorte  d'anfer  ratourne.^ 

Here  Zola  is  accused  of  inconsistency  and  illogicality  in  the  conception 
and  appHcation  of  his  formula;  evidently  he  violates  Sainte-Beuve's 
fourth  principle. 

Sainte-Beuve  held  in  theory  that  the  effect  of  a  work  of  art  on  the 
community  from  a  moral  point  of  view  may  be  an  index  as  to  its  ultimate 
merit.    However,  he  himself  definitely  Umits  the  field  of  such  judgments. 

Le  poete  dramatiqua  [and  this  is  equally  true  of  all  artists]  ...  ne  songe 
point  a  faira  un  ouvraga  moral;  il  pansa  a  faira  un  ouvraga  vrai  puis6  dans 
la  nature,  dans  la  vie.  ...  Mais  a  catta  hauteur,  la  nature  vraia,  mk\e  ou  tendre, 
...  la  nature  humaina  vartuausament  malade,  si  ja  puis  dire,  produit  le  plus 
souvant,  grace  au  genie  et  a  un  art  tout  plain  d'alle,  une  impression  morale 
qui  ennoblit,  qui  eleve,  et  qui  surtout  jamais  ne  corrompt.^ 

Sainte-Beuve  recognized  a  moral  function  of  a  great  work  even  though 
the  author  had  no  moraUstic  intention.  On  the  contrary  a  moralistic  book 
is  rarely  if  ever  a  work  of  art  and  therefore  falls  between  two  stools 
failing  of  both  its  purposes.^  The  last  clause  of  the  quotation,  "qui 
surtout  jamais  ne  corrompt,"  indicates  clearly,  however,  that  Sainte- 
Beuve  demanded  of  a  work  of  literature  that  it  should  not  be  corrupting; 
in  other  words,  that  he  held  morahty  as  one  of  his  criteria.  The  presence 
of  several  strictures  upon  various  writers  for  indecency  clinches  this  proof. 
It  is  easy  to  overemphasize  this  point.  Sainte-Beuve  was  by  nature 
and  training  intellectual  rather  than  ethical  in  his  point  of  view;  he  was 
steeped  in  the  doctrines  of  relativity,  his  scientific  studies  had  tended  to 
give  his  mind  a  deterministic  bias,  and,  of  course,  he  could  not  be  aware 

'  Correspondance,  II,  314. 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  499.  3  Ibid. 


68       SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

of  the  recent  sociological  view  of  morals  as  social  agreement.  In  his 
earlier  life,  too,  he  had  been  accused  with  some  semblance  of  justice  of 
having  written  poetry  and  a  novel  immoral  in  their  tendency,  and  this, 
together  with  his  belief  that  criticism  should  be  as  generous  as  possible, 
made  him  careful  about  casting  the  critical  stone  of  moral  stricture. 
Rarely  indeed  did  he  throw  what  he  calls  "le  pave  accablant,  dont  on 
s'arme  sans  cesse,  qu'on  jette  a  la  tete  de  tout  nouveau  venu,  avec  une 
vivacite  et  une  promptitude  qui  ne  laissent  pas  d'etre  curieuses  si  Ton 
songe  a  quelques-uns  de  ceux  qui  en  jouent  de  la  sorte."^  He  defended 
Feydeau,  Flaubert,  and  others  from  the  charge  of  immoraUty,  making 
himseK  more  often  advocatus  diaboli  than  the  defender  of  conventional 
standards.  His  morality  differed  perhaps  from  the  ordinary  but  was 
always  present  in  his  mind  as  a  necessary  concomitant  of  the  truly 
great  work. 

If  we  have  drawn  the  proper  inferences  from  the  material  cited  we 
may  assume  that  we  have  estabhshed  the  following  regarding  Sainte- 
Beuve  as  aesthetic  critic: 

1.  He  was  an  aesthetic  as  well  as  a  scientific  and  historical  critic, 
evaluating  the  artistic  aspects  of  his  material. 

2.  He  was  a  judicial  critic  and  beUeved  it  was  his  province  to  offer 
a  final  appraisement  of  a  work,  based  on  certain  abiding  principles. 

3.  These  major  criteria  or  abiding  principles  are  four:  taste,  reality, 
tradition,  and  logic  and  consistency;  to  which  we  add  moraUty  as  a 
fifth,  though  minor,  one. 

*  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  347. 


V.    THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CRITIC 

In  Pope's  Essay  on  Criticism,  Sainte-Beuve  finds  a  portrait  of  a 
critic  which  he  acknowledges  as  a  presentation  of  his  own  ideal.^  So 
satisfied  is  he  with  this  portrait  that  he  says  he  would  hke  to  see  it  hung 
above  the  work  table  of  every  critic,  where  he  could  have  it  continually 
before  his  eyes.    Pope's  Unes  are  these: 

But  Where's  the  man,  who  counsel  can  bestow, 

Still  pleas'd  to  teach,  and  yet  not  proud  to  know  ? 

Unbiass'd,  or  by  favour,  or  by  spite; 

Not  dully  prepossess'd,  nor  blindly  right; 

Tho'  learn'd,  well-bred;  and  tho'  well-bred,  sincere,  ;- 

Modestly  bold,  and  humanly  severe: 

Who  to  a  friend  his  faults  can  freely  show,  \ 

And  gladly  praise  the  merit  of  a  foe  ?  \^ 

Blest  with  a  taste  exact,  yet  unconfin'd; 

A  knowledge  both  of  books  and  human  kind: 

Gen'rous  converse;  a  soul  exempt  from  pride; 

And  love  to  praise,  with  reason  on  his  side  ?^ 

Every  item  of  this  pointed  antithetical  "character"  of  Pope's  is  signifi- 
cant. It  is  in  itself  of  great  significance  that  Sainte-Beuve — the 
later  Sainte-Beuve — should  have  found  his  ideal  expressed  by  Pope. 
The  representative  EngUsh  classicist  had  a  profound  influence  on 
Sainte-Beuve,  having  embodied  in  his  work  and  theory  many  of  the 
things  which  the  great  Frenchman  coveted  for  the  criticism  of  his  own 
day  and  nation. 

Sainte-Beuve  himself  paints  an  independent  portrait  of  the  ideal 
critic: 

Le  jour  ou  viendrait  un  critique  qui  aurait  le  profond  sentiment  historique 
et  vital  des  lettres  comme  Ta  M.  Taine,  qui  plongerait  comme  lui  ses  racines 
jusqu'aux  sources,  en  poussant  d'autre  part  ses  verts  rameaux  sous  le  soleil, 
et  en  meme  temps  qui  ne  suprimerait  point  ...  que-dis-je?  qui  continuerait 
de  respecter  et  de  respirer  la  fleur  sobre,  au  fin  parfum,  des  Pope,  des  Boileau, 
des  Fontanes,  ce  jour-la  le  critique  complet  serait  trouve;  la  reconciliation 
entre  les  deux  ecoles  serait  faite.3 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  121. 

'  Essay  on  Criticism,  11.  630  ff.  3  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  115. 

69 


70      SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

C-  In  brief,  he  dreams  of  a  critic  who  can  reconcile  within  himself  humanism 
C  and  determinism,  science  and  tradition,  aesthetics  and  history.  Sainte- 
Beuve  fulfils  in  some  measure  his  own  dream,  for  while  he  may  not  have 
made  an  integral  union  of  the  two  schools,  he  did  create  a  working 
federation  between  them.  He  fears,  however,  that  any  attempt  to  mix 
this  critical  oil  and  water  will  result  in  a  mere  emulsion  and  not  in  a  true 
stable  compound.  Indeed,  in  the  very  passage  quoted  above  his  own 
logic  drives  him  on  into  the  rather  sad  admission:  "Mais  je  demande 
rimpossible;  on  voit  bien  que  c'est  un  reve."'  Elsewhere,  in  the  well- 
known  article  on  Bayle,  the  source  for  much  of  the  information  about 
what  Sainte-Beuve  demanded  of  the  critic,  he  says: 

Nous  ne  saisirons  et  ne  releverons  en  lui  que  les  traits  essentiels  du  g6nie 
critique  qu'il  represente  a  un  degre  merveilleux  dans  sa  purete  et  son  plein, 
dans  son  empressement  discursif,  dans  sa  curiosite  affam6e,  dans  sa  sagacite 
p^n^trante,  dans  sa  versatilite  perpetuelle  et  son  appropriation  a  chaque  chose.' 

We  must  superadd  these  finer  though  secondary  qualities  to  the  Ust  of 
those  essential  in  his  ideal  critic. 

When  we  come  to  gather  Sainte-Beuve's  specifications  as  to  the  equip- 
ment and  qualifications  of  the  critic,  it  seems  necessary  to  begin  with 
his  doctrine  of  the  critic's  spontaneity — even  in  the  old  phrasing  that 
the  critic  is  born  and  not  made.  It  is  first  by  virtue  of  native  power 
that  the  ideal  critic  penetrates  to  the  heart  of  life  and  art,  and  this 
intuitive  penetration  leads  him  into  an  appreciation  not  otherwise 
attainable.^  "L'homme  de  talent  Test  par  nature,^'  and  he  means  this 
to  apply  in  the  field  of  criticism  as  in  other  fields.-*  The  critic's  intuitive 
discernment  must  be  recognized  as  a  type  of  genius.  "La  nature  cree 
le  grand  critique;  de  meme  qu'elle  confere  a  quelques  hommes  le  don 
du  commandement.  D'autres  influent  plus  sensiblement,  agitent, 
debordent,  entrainent;  le  vrai  juge,  le  vrai  critique,  par  quelque  mots 
etabUt  le  balance,  "s  Lacking  this  native  gift  the  critic  is  seriously 
limited:  "  Je  ne  sais  pas  de  preuve  plus  sure  qu'on  n'est  pas  fait  pour 
^tre  un  vrai  critique,  que  d'aller  preferer  d'insHnct  dans  ce  qu'on  a 
sous  les  yeux  un  demi-talent  a  un  talent  et,  qui  pis  est,  a  un  genie.'"' 
I  have  italicized  in  this  passage  the  word  of  greatest  importance;  when 
Sainte-Beuve  speaks  of  judgment  as  instinctive  he  seems  to  place  it  on 
the  fundamental  basis  as  a  native  gift — to  make  of  it,  as  it  were,  another 
sense.    Indeed,  he  says  precisely :  "  L'autorite  du  vai  critique  ^e  compose 

» Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  ii6,  *  Portraits  contetnporains,  V,  457- 

'  Portraits  littiraires,  I,  365.  «  Chateaubriand,  II,  115. 

»  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  65.  ^Nouveaux  lundis.  III,  117 


THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CRITIC  71 

de  bien  des  elements  complexes  comme  pour  le  grand  medecin;  mais 
au  fond  il  y  a  la  un  sens  apart. "^  Criticizing  certain  figures  of  speech 
in  a  style  that  he  is  studying,  he  exclaims:  "Quand  on  ne  sent  pas  una 
fois  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  bizarre  dans  ...  ces  nuances  incoherentes,  on  ne  le 
sentira  jamais."^  The  important  word  here  is  sentj  which  carries  an 
impHcation  of  physical  perception.  Of  Grimm,  whom  he  admired,  he 
says:  "Quand  la  nature  a  une  fois  doue  quelqu'un  de  cette  vivacite  de 
tact  et  de  cette  susceptibilite  d'impression,  et  que  I'imagination  creatrice 
ne  s'y  joint  pas,  ce  quelqu'un  est  ne  critique,  c'est-a-dire  amateur  et 
juge  des  creations  des  autres."^ 

He  points  out,  as  evidence  that  the  fundamental  elements  in  the 
critical  faculty  are  congenital  and  not  acquired,  the  fact  that  very 
ignorant  persons  sometimes  arrive  at  the  most  penetrating  appre- 
ciation by  mere  intuition; 

J'aime  le  naif  dans  les  jugements.  Je  remarque  comme  les  jeunes  filles 
du  peuple  sentent  souvent  bien  la  poesie.  La  petite  boheme  qui  ne  sait  pas 
lire  juge  a  merveille  des  vers  de  Chenier,  de  Lamartine,  de  Mme  Valmore; 
elle  s'ecrie  aux  plus  beaux,  aux  passiones  surtout,  et  aux  plus  tendres.  Et 
quant  a  Victor  Hugo — 

him,  too,  she  judges  with  correct  appreciation.^  Of  course,  however,  the 
fact  that  an  untrained  person  may  by  intuition  reach  a  correct  estimate 
in  artistic  matters  does  not  argue  that  he  who  aspires  to  be  an  authori- 
tative critic  can  forego  any  aspect  of  educational  equipment. 

The  critic's  sensitiveness  to  impression  has  its  active  as  well  as  its 
receptive  side.  Sainte-Beuve,  teUing  a  story  of  Pope  to  the  effect  that 
attempting  to  read  aloud  a  passage  from  Homer  he  was  so  moved  by 
its  beauty  and  pathos  that  tears  interrupted  his  reading,  comments: 
**nul  exemple  ne  nous  prouve  mieux  que  le  sien  combien  la  faculte  de 
critique  emue,  deUcate,  est  une  faculte  active.  On  ne  sent  pas,  on  ne 
pergoit  pas  de  la  sorte  quand  on  n'a  rien  a  rendre.  Ce  gout,  cette  sen- 
sibihte  si  eveillee,  si  soudaine,  suppose  bien  de  I'imagination  derriere."s 
The  sensitive  critical  faculty  serves  in  hterary  history  as  a  barometer  to 
forecast  the  spiritual  and  artistic  weather,  or  rather  cUmate,  of  a  period. 
The  acute  critic  is  able  to  tell  in  advance  the  moral  meteoric  condition 
of  his  age: 

II  est  des  organisations  delicates  et  nerveuses  qui  sentent  vingt-quatre 
heures  a  I'avance  les  €*iangements  de  temps,  qui  les  devinent  en  quelque  sorte. 

^  Chateaubriand f  II,  115. 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  339.  ^  Cahiers,  p.  32. 

»  Ibid.y  p.  311.  s  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  118. 


72       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

Tel  doit  ^tre  Tesprit  du  critique  par  rapport  au  jugement  du  public.  II  faut 
que  sa  montre  avance  de  cinq  minutes  au  moins  sur  le  cadran  de  I'Hotel-de- 
Ville.'' 

The  critic  is  not  then  a  poHe  avorti,^  or,  according  to  Coleridge's  phrase, 
a  failure  in  letters  turned  reviewer,  or  any  other  kind  of  an  artist  who 
has  failed  in  his  chosen  career  and  taken  to  criticism  with  a  view  to 
avenging  himself  upon  an  unappreciative  world.  Balzac  wrote  of  a 
certain  sculptor  who  had  not  succeeded  in  his  art:  "II  passa  critique, 
comme  tous  les  impuissants  qui  mentent  a  leurs  debuts."  Sainte-Beuve 
proceeds: 

Ce  dernier  trait  peut  etre  vrai  d'un  artiste  sculpteur  ou  p)eintre  qui,  au 
lieu  de  se  mettre  a  I'oeuvre,  passe  son  temps  a  disserter  et  a  raisonner;  mais, 
dans  I'ordre  de  la  pens6e,  cette  parole,  qui  revient  souvent  sous  la  plume  de 
toute  une  6cole  de  jeune^Jitterateurs,  est  a  la  fois  une  injustice  et  une  erreur." 

The  impUcations  are  plain.  The  critic,  like  the  dramatist,  the 
novelist,  the  poet,  is  a  creator,  since  he  too  works  with  words  and  ideas, 
building  them  into  edifices  of  his  own — a  creator  in  a  different  manner, 
perhaps,  but  not  in  a  different  measure  from  those  other  literary  artists. 
He  may  borrow  ideas,  but  what  creative  worker  does  not,  upon  occasion, 
borrow?  He  quotes  Pope,  who  says  that  true  taste  among  critics  is 
as  rare  as  true  genius  among  poets  and  that  they  each  draw  a  separate 
and  yet  kindred  inspiration  from  heaven — one  inspiration  for  judging 
others,  the  other  inspiration  for  creating  poetry.  Sainte-Beuve  pro- 
ceeds, translating  Pope,  "  Quelques-uns  ont  d'abord  passe  pour  beaux 
esprits,  ensuite  pour  poetes;  puis,  ils  se  sont  faits  critiques,  et  ils  se  sont 
montres  tout  uniment  des  sots  sous  toutes  les  formes."  He  then  adds 
for  himself: 

Cela  est  d'avance  une  r6ponse  a  ces  artistes  orgueilleux  et  vains,  impatients 
de  toute  observation,  comme  nous  en  avons  connu,  et  qui,  confondant  tout, 
ne  savaient  donner  qu'une  seule  definition  du  critique;  "Qu'est  un  critique? 
C'est  un  impuissant  qui  n'a  pu  ^tre  artiste."  Tout  artiste  presomptueux  avait 
trop  int^r^t  a  cette  definition  du  critique:  il  s'en  est  suivi,  pendant  des  ann^es, 
la  pleine  licence  et  comme  Torgie  des  talents.^ 

Not  only  is  the  critic  not  an  artiste  avortiy  but  he  should  ideally  have 
little  or  none  of  the  pecuUar  inspiration  of  the  imaginative  artist  in 
him:  **I1  ne  faut  pas  avoir  le  talent  trop  empresse  quand  on  est  critique; 

'  Portraits  contemporains,  V,  457. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  455.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  119. 


THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CRITIC  73 

autrement  des  que  I'on  commence  a  lire  quelque  chose,  voila  le  talent 
qui  part,  qui  se  jette  a  la  traverse,  et  Ton  n'a  pas  fini  de  juger."^ 

Une  des  conditions  du  genie  critique  ...  c'est  de  n'avoir  pas  d^art  a  soi, 
de  style;  ...  quand  on  a  un  style  ...  on  a  une  preoccupation  bien  legitime  de 
sa  propre  oeuvre,  qui  se  fait  a  travers  Toeuvre  de  I'autre,  et  quelquefois  a  ses 
depens.  Cette  distraction  limite  le  genie  critique.  ...  De  plus  quand  on  a  un 
art  a  soi  ...  on  a  un  gout  decide  qui  ...  atteint  vite  ses  restrictions.^ 

Is  it  not,  indeed,  almost  a  commonplace  that  a  practitioner  of  any 
art  or  profession  makes  a  poor  judge  of  it,  since  in  most  cases  he  cannot 
divest  himself  of  his  attitude  toward  it;  he  forms  his  opinion  in  advance, 
he  has  prejudged  and  is  therefore  prejudiced  ?  Sainte-Beuve  has  spoken 
on  this  point: 

J'ai  sou  vent  pense  que  le  mieux  pour  le  critique  qui  voudrait  se  riserver 
le  plus  de  largeur  de  vues,  ce  serait  de  n'avoir  aucune  faculte  d'artiste,  de  peur 
de  porter  ensuite  dans  ses  divers  jugements  la  secrete  predilection  d'un  pere  et 
d'un  auteur  interesse.3 

He  regarded  it  as  a  serious  misfortune  for  the  criticism  of  his  own 
day  that  economic  conditions  often  forced  creative  writers,  under  the 
necessity  of  making  a  living,  to  take  up  the  pen  of  the  critic,  doing 
violence  to  their  own  talent,  coarsening  their  finer  sensibiUties,  and  at 
the  same  time  lowering  the  standard  of  criticism.  This  latter  would 
follow  as  a  matter  of  course  when  the  field  of  criticism  was  invaded 
by  writers  who  held  criticism  in  contempt,  regarding  their  own  essays 
in  it  as  mere  potboilers,  reserving  their  care  and  enthusiasm  for  their 
own  creative  work.^ 

The  critical  faculty  shares  three  qualities  with  the  creative  faculty: 
a  keen  perception  of  reality  and  of  essential  value,  a  keenness  of  per- 
ception which  the  ordinary  man  does  not  possess — "  I'enthousiasme  et 
I'amour  du  beau,"s  and  the  love  of  truth;  and  is  equally  "I'ennemi  des 
engouements  et  de  tous  les  charlatanismes."^ 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  505. 

^  Partraits  litteraires,  I,  376.  3  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  10. 

4  Sainte-Beuve  when  he  started  his  critical  career  seems  to  have  had  something 
of  this  in  him,  for  he  claimed  to  be  primarily  a  poet.  This  is  just  what  happens  in 
the  case  of  the  poet:  "Le  journal  ...  a  cre6  une  charge  qui  reclame  imperieusement 
son  homme;  c'est  celle  de  critique  universel  et  ordinaire.  Vous  Fetes  ou  vous  ne  I'^tes 
pas  par  disposition  premiere  et  naturelle,  qu'importe!  il  vous  faut  a  toute  force  le 
devenir.  Les  poetes,  lorsqu'on  fait  d'eux  des  critiques  ...  ont  une  difficulte  particu- 
lidre  a  vaincre;  ils  ont  un  go6t  personnel  tres-prononc6,"  etc.  {ihid.,  VI,  296). 

5  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  308.  ^  Ihid.,  I,  387. 


74      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

A  main  essential  qualification  of  the  critic  is  a  power  of  perceiving 
differences,  an  appreciative  sense  of  the  many,  and  an  ability  to 
enter  into  and  experience  imaginatively  very  diverse  circumstances  and 
states  of  consciousness.  Diderot  possessed  in  a  marvelous  degree  this 
faculty  of  demi-metamorphosis  "qui  est  le  jeu  et  le  triomphe  de  la 
critique,  et  qui  consiste  a  se  mettre  k  la  place  I'auteur  et  au  point  de 
vue  du  sujet  qu'on  examine,  a  Ure  tout  ecrit  selon  V esprit  qui  Va  dicU^^ 
Sainte-Beuve  uses  the  figure  elsewhere  of  the  critic  as  a  winding  river 
which  reflects  on  its  placid  bosom  everything  it  passes.  He  says  of 
De  Laprade: 

Ce  qui  m'y  frappe  avant  tout  et  partout,  c'est  combien  I'auteur,  soit 
qu'il  raisonne,  soit  qu'il  interroge  rhistoire  litteraire,  ne  comprend  que  sa 
propre  maniere  d'etre  et  sa  propre  individualite;  par  cela  meme  il  nous  avertit 
qu'il  n'est  pas  un  critique.' 

He  says  of  Taine  that  he  is  too  single-minded  to  be  a  first-rate  critic' 
His  exhortation  to  his  colleagues  in  criticism  is:  "Critiques  curieux, 
imprevus,  infatigables,  prompts  k  tous  sujets,  soyons  ^  notre  maniere 
comme  ce  tyran  qui,  dans  son  palais,  avait  trente  chambres;  et  on  ne 
savait  jamais  dans  laquelle  il  couchait."4  The  well-equipped  critic  has 
the  abiUty  to  put  himself  at  will  in  the  place  of  another;  it  is  his  unques- 
tioned privilege  and  duty  to  do  this  at  need.  He  has  the  privilege,  also 
unquestioned  if  not  indeed  unquestionable,  of  changing  camps  at  will, 
of  displaying  first  the  converse  then  the  reverse  of  every  medal.  That 
Sainte-Beuve  writes  with  perfect  penetration  of  Mme  du  Deffand 
constitutes  no  reason  why  he  should  not  write  with  equal  penetration 
of  her  deadly  rival  and  mortal  enemy  Mile  de  Lespinasse: 

Le  critique  ne  doit  point  avoir  de  partialite  et  n'est  d'aucune  c6terie.  II 
n'epouse  les  gens  que  pour  un  temps,  et  ne  fait  que  traverser  les  groupes  divers 
sans  s'y  enchainer  jamais.  II  passe  r^solument  d'un  camp  a  I'autre,  et  de 
ce  qu'il  a  rendu  justice  d'un  c6te,  ce  ne  lui  est  jamais  une  raison  de  la  refuser 
a  ce  qui  est  vis-a-vis.  Ainsi,  tour  a  tour,  il  est  a  Rome  ou  a  Carthage,  tantdt 
pour  Argos  et  tantdt  pour  lUon.s 

And  elsewhere: 

Le  genie  critique  ...  ne  reste  pas  dans  son  centre  ou  k  peu  de  distance; 
il  ne  se  retranche  pas  dans  sa  cour,  ni  dans  sa  citadelle,  ni  dans  son  academie; 
il  ne  craint  pas  de  se  mesallier;  il  va  partout,  le  long  des  rues,  s'informant, 
accostant;  la  curiosit6  I'alleche  ...  il  est  ...  tout  a  tous.  ...  Mais  gare  au 
retours!  ...  I'infidelite  est  un  trait  de  ces  esprits  divers  et  intelligents.^ 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  301.  *  Portraits  co7itemporains,  V,  457. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  9.  s  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  121. 

3  Ihid.,  VIII,  80.  6  Portraits  littiraires,  I,  371. 


THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CRITIC  75 

Kis  absolute  freedom  the  ideal  critic  combines  with  a  universal  toler- 
ance— to  understand  is  to  forgive — ^and  he  is  indifferent  to  passions: 

Cette  indifference  du  fond,  il  faut  bien  le  dire,  cette  tolerance  prompte, 
facile,  aiguisee  de  plaisir,  est  une  des  conditions  essentielles  du  genie  critique, 
dont  le  propre,  quand  il  est  complet,  consiste  a  courir  au  premier  signe  sur  le 
terrain  d'un  chacim,  a  s'y  trouver  a  I'aise,  a  s'y  jouer  en  maitre  et  a  connaitre 
de  toutes  choses.^ 

In  his  political  and  literary  career  Sainte-Beuve  availed  himself  of 
the  privilege  he  claimed  for  the  critic,  having  many  times  shifted  his 
adherence:  "  J'ai  vecu  de  bien  des  vies  litteraires,  et  j'ai  passe  de  douces 
heures  d'entretien  avec  des  hommes  instruits  de  plus  d'une  ecole;  il  me 
semblait  que  j'etais  de  la  leur,  tant  que  je  causais  avec  eux";*  but  he 
never  gave  any  group  the  right  to  say,  "He  is  one  of  us,"  he  never  sur- 
rendered himself  completely,  except  once  in  his  youth,  when  he  adhered 
for  a  time  to  Hugo  and  the  romanticists. 

The  critic's  chameleon-like  quality  of  adjusting  himself  to  different 
camps,  different  persons,  different  subjects  must  not  fail  him  when  it 
is  a  question  of  adjusting  himself  to  different  aspects  of  the  same  sub- 
ject, to  the  same  subject  under  different  Hghts  or  from  diverse  points  of 
view: 

II  est  heureux  pour  les  critiques  de  n'6tre  point  comme  Montesquieu  qui 
ne  tirait  jamais,  disait-il,  du  moule  de  son  esprit,  qu'un  seul  portrait  sur  chaque 
sujet.  Nous  autres,  nous  avons  a  revenir  sans  cesse  sur  ce  que  nous  avons 
d6ja  traite,  a  revenir  vite,  il  est  vrai,  mais  toujours  par  un  coin  plus  ou  moins 
vif .  Nous  avons  a  tirer  sur  un  m^me  fond  mainte  epreuve,  et  dont  aucune  ne 
soit  semblable.  II  ne  faut  point  trop  paraitre  redire,  ni  encore  moins  se  con- 
tredire,  il  faut  €tre  dans  un  courant,  dans  un  recommencement  continuel.^ 

His  essays  on  Bossuet  are  sufficient  witness  to  the  fact  that  Sainte-Beuve 
was  eminently  skilful  in  treating  a  subject  from  many  points  of  view/ 
The  really  great  critic  has  personal  weight  and  influence,  the  mental 
and  moral  integrity  to  give  authoritatively  an  opinion  and  then  to 
defend  it.    He  should  feel  certain  of  himself:     - 

Johnson  avait  un  hon  jugement  et  VautoriU  necessaire  pour  le  faire  valoir, 
quaUtes  essentielles  a  tout  critique  et  que  les  critiques  de  nos  jours  paraissent, 
au  contraire,  trop  oublier:  car,  avec  tous  leurs  beaux  et  brillants  developpe- 
ments,  ils  trouvent  souvent  le  moyen  de  n'avoir  m  jugement  ni  autoritS.  Ville- 
main,  dans  ses  jugements  contemporains,  n'a  jamais  6te  que  flatterie  et 
complaisance.  Du  bon  sens  sterling,  voila  ce  qu'avait  Johnson,  et  c'est  a  quoi 
toutes  les  malices  et  les  fines  ironies  ne  suppleent  pas.s 

*  Ibid.,  p.  369. 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  332.      *  -»  Cf.  ibid.,  Ill,  45;  XIII,  248,  etc. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  55.  s  Ibid.,  XI,  490. 


76      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

He  calls  this  certainty  and  ability  to  give  judgment  "cette  irritabilic6 
de  bon  sens  et  de  raison  qui  fait  dire  'non'  avec  vehemence."^  All  the 
great  critics  have  in  matters  of  taste  this  "  susceptibilite  vive,  passionn6e, 
irritable,"^  which  leads  them,  of  course,  in  extreme  cases  to  dogmatism. 
But  dogmatism  is  only  the  accentuation  of  a  virtue;  it  is  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  critic's  consciousness  of  his  own  authority: 

II  y  a  dans  cette  autorite  et  dans  rimportance  de  celui  que  Texerce,  quelque 
chose  de  vivant,  de  personnel,  qui  ne  tient  pas  uniquement  a  ce  qu'il  ecrit  et 
qui  ne  s'y  represente  pas  toujours,  en  entier,  mais  qui  tient  de  plus  pres  a 
rhomme  meme,  a  son  geste,  a  son  accent.  Les  m^mes  choses  dans  d'autres 
bouches  n'ont  le  meme  sens  ni  le  meme  poids.3 

The  born  critic  has  thus  an  oracular  power  which  the  made  critic  does  not 
share:  "Mme.  d'fipinay  disait,  'II  ne  me  reste  aucun  doute  lorsque 
M.  Grimm  a  prononce,'  "  and  Sainte-Beuve  adds,  "Ce  caractere  d'oracle 
est  assez  naturel  a  tous  les  maitres  critiques. "4  Personal  authority  is 
necessary  to  the  judge:  "Or,  cela  est  triste  a  dire,  le  critique  est  un 
juge,  il  n'est  pas  un  homme  de  quahte  ni  un  chevalier,"^  and  this  personal 
authority  makes  the  critic  the  power  in  art  which  he  ought  to  be;  con- 
scious of  the  rectitude  of  his  verdicts,  he  feels  himself  able  and  willing 
to  condemn  the  bad  and  to  praise  the  good. 

The  real  credentials  of  the  critic  born  to  be  a  critic  and  possessing 
the  requisite  personal  authority  and  independence  of  opinion  are  found 
in  his  judgments  on  his  contemporaries.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to 
judge  Racine  or  Bossuet,  for  opinion  is  settled  about  them,  but  when  one 
has  to  fray er  le  chemin  the  critic's  metal  is  tested: 

Le  don  de  la  critique  a  ete  accorde  a  quelques-uns  ...  ce  don  devient 
meme  du  genie  lorsqu'au  milieu  des  revolutions  du  gout,  il  s'agit  de  discemer 
avec  nettete,  sans  aucune  mollesse,  ce  qui  vivra,  si  dans  une  oeuvre  nouvelle 
I'originaHte  reelle  suffit  a  racheter  les  defauts  ...  et  d'oser  dire  tout  cela 
avant  tous  et  le  dire  d'un  ton  qui  impose  et  se  fasse  icovLter.^ 

Whatever  his  native  gifts,  the  critic  will  need  to  be  prepared  for  his 
work  by  the  widest  accumulation  of  knowledge  and  the  most  pains- 
taking discipUne,  since  it  is  true  that  "le  plus  sou  vent  nous  ne  jugeons 
pas  les  autres,  nous  jugeons  nos  propres  facultes  dans  les  autres."^ 
Then  it  behooves  us  in  every  possible  sense  to  increase  our  knowledge 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  19.  •♦  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  305. 

» Ihid.^  VII,  310.  5  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  12. 

3  Chateaubriand^  H,  "S-  '  Chateaubriand,  II,  115. 

'  Cahien,  p.  34;  cf.  Anatole  France,  La  vie  littSraire,  Vol.  I,  p.  iv. 


THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CRITIC  77 

and  refine  our  tastes.  Sainte-Beuve  insisted  that  in  order  to  approxi- 
mate an  understanding  of  our  predecessors,  or  for  that  matter  of  our 
contemporaries,  we  must  be  able  to  enter  into  their  consciousness,  in  a 
sense  to  impersonate  them.  To  this  end  a  store  of  knowledge  practically 
limitless  is  necessary:  "La  critique  est  un  metier  a  part  qui  demande 
bien  des  precautions  et  des  preparations.'"  It  asks  for  erudition,  for 
the  widest  possible  knowledge  of  life,  for  experience  in  the  other  arts — ^no 
amount  and  no  kind  of  training  come  amiss  in  the  critic's  calling.  Of 
Bayle,  Sainte-Beuve  says  that  while  he  was  Uttle  attracted  by  mathe- 
matics which  "absorbe — detourne  un  esprit  critique,  chercheur  et  k 
la  piste  des  particularites,"  he  was  benefited  by  his  study  of  dialectics.^ 
It  is  in  Saint-Beuve's  opinion  a  profound  misfortune  for  our  age  that 
so  many  voices  are  raised  in  assumed  authority  whose  owners  are  not 
experienced  and  not  educated.  Such  persons  do  not  attempt  to  judge 
music  or  painting;  they  leave  that  task  to  those  having  some  technical 
knowledge;  but  everybody  seems  willing  to  ojffer  judgments  on  Uterature: 

Les  oeuvres  et  productions  de  Tesprit,  quand  elles  6clatent  point  au  th6^tre 
par  de  grandes  et  vivantes  creations,  ...  sent  d'une  appreciation  infinement 
plus  discrete  et  plus  voilee,  ...  et  elles  exigent,  pour  etre  senties  convenable- 
ment,  des  esprits  plus  avertis  de  longue  main  et  plus  prepares.  II  y  faut  tant 
de  preparation  en  effet,  que  je  me  dis  quelquefois  qu'au  milieu  de  cette  vie 
pressee,  affairee,  bourree  de  travaux  et  d'etudes,  ...  ceux  m^me,  qui  sont  du 
meme  metier  ...  n'auront  pas  tou jours  le  temps,  I'espace,  la  liberty  et  I'elas- 
ticite  d'impressions  necessaires  pour  etre  justes  envers  leurs  devanciers.3 

While  it  is  true  that  this  wide  sweep  of  knowledge  and  experience  is 
important  for  the  critic's  best  equipment,  that  his  studies  in  any  science, 
in  philosophy,  in  religion  never  come  amiss,  giving  him  that  most 
desirable  sense  of  authority  and  mastery ,4  yet  it  is  naturally  in  the  field 
of  literature  itself  that  the  Uterary  critic  will  perfect  himself.  A  wide 
and  rich  knowledge  of  Uterary  history  and  famiUarity  with  the  essentials 
of  literary  tradition  constitute  his  indispensable  preparation.^ 

^  Correspondance,  I,  310;  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  66.  He  repeats  this  same  out- 
burst elsewhere:  "Nous  vivons  dans  un  temps  ou  chacun  se  croit  critique  etsepose 
comme  tel  ...  c'est  le  pis-aller  du  moindre  grimaud  (comme  on  disait  du  temps  de 
Boileau),  du  moindre  apprenti  litt^raire  que  de  trancher  de  I'Aristarque  en  feuilleton" 
{Chateaubriand,  II,  114). 

^  Portraits  litter  aires,  I,  381.  *  »  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  66. 

<  Causeries  du  lundi,  11,  379,  where  he  praises  de  Broglie  as  critic  for  his  great 
knowledge  and  immense  capacity  for  labor. 

s  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  305. 


78      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

First  in  order  of  importance  is  the  respectful  study  of  the  ancients 
and  veneration  of  our  legacy  from  them: 

La  vraie  et  juste  disposition  a  leur  egard  est  un  premier  fends  de  respect, 
et  tout  au  moins  beaucoup  de  serieux,  de  circonspection,  d'attention,  une 
patiente  et  longue  6tude  de  la  soci6te,  de  la  langue,  un  grand  compte  a  tenir 
des  jugements  des  Anciens  les  uns  siu:  les  autres. 

And  he  adds  an  urgency  that  we  treat  the  classics  not  from  our  point  of 
view  but  from  theirs.^  The  achievement  of  this  point  of  view  is  a  busi- 
ness of  arduous  scholarship  and  disciplined  sympathy: 

N'aimer  en  litt^rature  qu'a  s'occuper  du  present  et  du  livre  du  jour,  ... 
c'est  suivre  et  courir  le  succes,  ce  n'est  pas  aimer  les  Lettres  elles-m^mes,  dent 
le  propre  est  la  perpetuity,  la  memoire,  et  la  variet6  dans  le  souvenir.' 

He  avers  that  this  achievement  does  not  lose  its  value  when  we  have 
appreciated  the  classics,  but  persists  as  the  best  possible  apparatus  for 
appreciating  and  judging  our  Uterary  contemporaries. 

The  genuine  critic  who  aims  at  real  and  full  sincerity  must  be 
unhampered  by  social  relations  and  obUgations,  private  or  poUtical. 
He  must  not  tie  himself  up  in  embarrassing  friendships  nor  commit 
himself  to  narrowing  hostiUties;  he  must  maintain  the  independence  of 
hj^  judgment.  Of  Hoffmann,  Sainte-Beuve  says:  " II  a  bien  des  quaHt6s 
du  vrai  critique,  conscience,  independance,  des  idees,  un  avis  a  lui."^ 
Elsewhere  he  says:  "Le  critique  a  des  amis,  je  Tespere,  mais  il  ne  doit 
pas  avoir  d'amities  Utteraires  quand  meme,  et  qui  le  determinent  ou 
I'enchainent  d'avance  a  un  jugement  trop  favorable. "^  La  Harpe, 
for  example,  having  fallen  in  love  with  Mme  de  Genhs,  abrogated  all 
critical  intelligence,  a  weakness  which  brings  down  on  him  Sainte- 
Beuve's  unqualified  scorn.s  Bayle  on  the  contrary  was  never  in  love^ 
and  is  to  be  admired  for  his  "parfaite  independance,  independance  par 
rapport  a  Tor  et  par  rapport  aux  honneurs."^  The  ideal  savant  "vit 
seul,  sans  famille,  sans  enfants,"^  free  from  the  burden  either  of  dire 
poverty  or  of  cloying  wealth: 

Un  critique  ne  doit  pas  avoir  trop  d'amis,  de  relations  de  monde,  de  ces 
obligations  d^mandes  par  les  convenances.    Sans  €tre  pr6cis6ment  des  corsaires 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  305.  '  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  28. 

» Ibid.,  VI,  25.  *  Portraits  littiraires,  I,  379. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  385.  '  Ibid.,  p.  386. 

4  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  1 2.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  98. 


THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CRITIC  79 

comme  on  I'a  dit,  nous  avons  besoin  de  courir  nos  bordees  au  large:  il  nous 
faut  nos  coudles  f ranches.^ 

He  must  be  equally  detached  from  friends  and  from  enemies  in  order 
to  be  neutral  or  at  least  impartial:  "Etre  critique,  c'est  tout  soumettre 
a  I'examen,  et  les  idees  et  les  faits,  et  m^me  les  textes;  c'est  de  ne  pro- 
ceder  en  rien  par  prevention  et  enthousiasme."^  One  may  see  that  in 
this  matter  Sainte-Beuve  placed  his  requirement  so  high  that  he  himself 
fell  laughably  short  of  it.  He  hated,  and  hated  cordially,  not  to  say 
vehemently.  In  reading  his  essays  one  has  constantly  to  discount  this 
or  the  other  statement  because  of  the  element  of  personal  spite  and 
prejudice  that  enters  into  it.  While  he  was  the  most  catholic  of  critics 
he  was  by  no  means  the  most  impartial.  It  is  curious  that  he  was  not 
aware  of  this,  for  he  obviously  and  sometimes  ostentatiously  tried  to  be 
fair.^  But  his  ideal  critic  "ne  devrait  pas  6tre  envieux.  Plus  il  y  a  de 
talents  et  plus  j'en  comprends,  plus  j'ai  raison  de  dire:  Mon  affaire  est 
bonne. "4    He  agrees  entirely  with  Pope,  whom  he  thus  paraphrases: 

Pour  ^tre  un  bon  et  parfait  critique,  Pope  le  savait  bien,  il  ne  suffit  pas 
de  cultiver  et  d'etendre  son  intelHgence,  il  faut  encore  purger  a  tout  instant 
son  esprit  de  toute  passion  mauvaise,  de  tout  sentiment  Equivoque;  il  faut 
tenir  son  ^me  en  bon  et  loyal  6tat.s 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  107.  He  envies  Scherer  because,  living  as  he  did  in 
Geneva,  he  was  able  to  speak  his  mind  with  no  personal  animus  involved  {ihid.,  XV, 
57).  Sainte-Beuve  himself,  through  the  medium  of  Juste  Olivier,  the  Geneva  pub- 
lisher, had  such  an  outlet  for  a  number  of  years  and  succeeded  in  telling  the  truth  or 
at  least  in  giving  his  candid  opinion  on  many  people  whom  he  would  otherwise  have 
been  afraid  to  attack.     Cf.  Harper,  Sainte-Beuve,  p.  266. 

=»  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  11. 

3  He  repeats  many  times  that  he  is  trying  to  be  neutral  and  impartial.  Let  a 
few  instances  su£5ce.  He  is  going  to  speak,  he  says,  of  Pontmartin:  "Mon  d6sir 
serait  de  le  faire  dans  un  parfait  esprit  d'impartialit6 "  (I  have  quoted  this  before, 
ihid.,  p.  i).  Again,  a  propos  of  Pontmartin,  who  has  called  Sainte-Beuve's  criticism 
"neutral,"  the  latter  writes:  "Je  ne  mettrai  pas  d'insistance  k  me  defendre,  car  c'est 
bien  moi  qui  repr^sente  cette  neutralite,  que  j'aimerais  aussi  entendre  appeler  tantdt 
'impartiality  et  tantdt  curiosite  d'inteUigence  et  d'observation "  (ibid.,  p.  9).  In  still 
another  passage  he  claims  to  be  able  to  write  impartially  of  Marie  Antoinette  because 
he  has  been  raised  neither  royalist  nor  republican  (ibid.,  VIII,  315).  Pontmartin's 
main  fault  as  a  critic  is  attacking  his  subjects  with  a  purpose.  Bayle,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  lack  of  prejudice,  of  impartiality  in  the  critic 
{Portraits  litt^raires,  I,  369). 

^  Portraits  contemporains,  V,  457. 

5  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  121. 


8o       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

This  true  critic  having  purged  bitterness  and  other  evil  passions  from  his 
soul  is  urbane  and  moderate:  "Le  critique  acari^tre,  fdt-il  exacte,  n'y 
saurait  pretendre  (a  I'urbanite)."'  He  censures  severely  those  critics 
whose  vocabulary  contains  only  harsh  words,  contending  that  they  would 
better  not  speak  at  all  than  merely  to  condemn,'  for  a  critic,  let  us 
repeat,  should  always  have  in  him  a  place  pour  un  certain  contraire,  une 
oreille  pour  V accuse.  In  the  Bayle  article  Sainte-Beuve  adds  the  following 
points  to  his  analysis  of  the  essential  quaUties  of  the  critic:  Disillusion- 
ment,3  a  universal  and  indiscriminate  curiosity ,4  common  sense,s  and 
freedom  from  religious  and  patriotic  prejudice,''  but  he  finds  that  Bayle, 
even  Bayle,  the  great  critic,  was  completely  lacking  in  aesthetic 
sentiment.7 

In  summary,  Sainte-Beuve  would  like  to  stipulate  for  his  critic  the 
inborn  critical  faculty,  a  sort  of  superior  sense  which,  so  far  as  it  goes, 
is  infallible;  that  kind  and  amount  of  dramatic  imagination  that  enables 
him  to  put  himself  in  the  place  of  another,  to  envisage  other  circum- 
stances and  other  times;  an  authoritative  personaUty,  giving  him  con- 
fidence and  certainty;  as  much  learning  as  may  be,  especially  great 
knowledge  of  literature,  its  history  and  its  tradition;  independence, 
keeping  him  from  entangling  alliances  and  oppositions;  an  abiUty  to 
keep  his  judgment  unbiased  and  as  kindly  as  possible;  eagerness  for 
beauty  and  unfailing  openness  to  impression. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  and  profitable  to  assemble  in  some  order 
all  that  Sainte-Beuve  said  about  actual  critics,  particularly  those  who 
have  influenced  him  or  especially  interested  him.  But  the  large  mass 
of  material  would  unduly  prolong  this  dissertation  and  quite  upset  its 
balance.  It  does  seem  essential,  however,  to  glance  at  the  subject  to 
the  extent  of  naming  those  critics  who  stand  highest  in  his  estimation. 
Pre-eminent  among  those  whom  he  admires  is  Goethe,  "le  plus  grand 
des  critiques  modernes  et  de  tous  les  temps,"*  "ce  roi  de  la  critique";' 

*  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  69. 

2  Cf.  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  316,  where  he  attacks  Planche  for  his  conceit  and  his 
unbearable  harshness.  Cf.  also  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  464:  "G6nin  est  un  tape-dur, 
il  a  toujours  besoin  de  taper  sur  quelqu'un  ...  ces  gens-1^  manquent  de  ram6nit6 
et  de  la  16g^ret6,  qui  ne  devraient  jamais  se  s6parer  des  qualit^s  vTaiment  litt^raires." 

3  Portraits  littSraires,  I,  366. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  369-70.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  108. 
s /6i(f .,  p.  383.  1^  Ibid.,  Ill,  265. 

*  Ibid.f  pp.  377,  381.  '  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  42. 


THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  CRITIC  8i 

"notre  maitre  a  tous."  His  supremacy  among  critics  is  attested  by  his 
ability  to  exemplify  in  his  own  work  everything  he  adjudges  good: 

Goethe  est  le  seul  poete  qui  ait  eu  une  faculte  poetique  a  I'appui  de  chacune 
de  ses  comprehensions  et  de  ses  intelhgences  de  critique,  et  qui  ait  pu  dire  a 
propos  de  tout  de  qu'il  juge  en  chaque  genre.  "  J'en  ferai  un  parfait  echantillon 
si  je  le  veux."^ 

The  extent  of  Sainte-Beuve's  admiration  must  be  gauged  by  comparing 
the  boundless  enthusiasm  of  these  passages  with  his  customary  conscious 
moderation. 

Next  to  Goethe  in  his  estimation,  and  undoubtedly  more  important 
in  his  influence,  comes  Boileau,  the  greatest  of  French  critics:  "S'il 
m'est  permis  de  parler  pour  moi-meme,  Boileau  est  un  des  hommes  qui 
m'ont  le  plus  occupe  depuis  que  je  fais  de  la  critique,  et  avec  qui  j'ai 
le  plus  vecu  en  idee."*  To  Sainte-Beuve,  Boileau  presents  himself  as 
the  ideal  critic,  conditioned  only  by  the  limits  of  the  century  which 
circumscribed  his  knowledge.  The  great  nineteenth-century  critic  felt 
a  close  kinship  with  his  master  of  the  seventeenth;  it  was  his  hope  and 
his  endeavor  to  perform  for  his  own  time  the  noble  office  performed  for 
the  classical  age  by  Boileau. 

Of  great  importance  in  Sainte-Beuve's  estimation  and  deeply 
influential  with  him  were  Bayle^  and  Mme  de  Stael.  So  great  was  his 
interest  in  the  latter  and  his  admiration  of  her  work  that  she  has  worthily 
been  called  the  heroine  of  the  Lundis.  Close  below  these  two  in  Sainte- 
Beuve's  gallery  of  critics  comes  Diderot,  of  whom  he  frequently  expresses 
cordial  admiration,  calling  him  the  founder  of  appreciative  criticism, 
and  Voltaire,  whom  he  named  "le  plus  grand  esprit  critique  depuis 
Bayle."4  Among  later  Frenchmen  he  frequently  mentions  Fauriel, 
Joubert,  and  Fontanes.s 

Prominent  among  those  who  influenced  Sainte-Beuve's  critical 
thought  was  Alexander  Pope.^  It  should  not  be  a  matter  for  surprise 
that  he,  the  greatest  representative  of  the  EngUsh  classical  school,  should 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  lo.    On  his  admiration  for  Goethe  and  kinship  with  him 
see  Babbitt,  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism,  p.  127. 
'  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  495. 

3  As  to  Bayle's  kinship  with  Sainte-Beuve,  Babbitt  is  again  illuminating  {op.  cit., 
pp.  121  ff.)-  See  also  the  article  "Du  genie  critique  et  de  Bayle"  in  Portraits  lit- 
tiraires,  I,  364. 

4  Portraits  litteraires,  I,  376. 

s  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  376.  ^  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  121,  etc. 


82       SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

have  appealed  to  Sainte-Beuve,  whose  philosophical  processes  were  on 
the  whole  English  rather  than  French,  and  whose  predilections  for  the 
classical  tradition  may  be  said  to  be  a  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
his  later  period.  Of  other  English  critics  whom  he  knew,  only  Johnson 
and  Jeffrey  need  be  named. 

With  the  exception  of  Goethe,  Sainte-Beuve  obviously  knew  Uttle 
of  German  criticism.  There  is  some  indication  that  he  knew  something 
of  the  Schlegels  and  there  is  casual  mention  of  Lessing.  But  the  reflec- 
tions are  too  few  and  fugitive  to  be  collected. 

The  roster  of  the  names  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  masters  is,  then, 
Goethe,  Boileau,  Mme  de  Stael,  Diderot,  Voltaire,  Bayle,  Pope,  and 
Johnson. 


Vr.    PRECEPTS  AND  PROCJ^DMS 

The  caption  chosen  for  this  section  permits  the  collecting  in  one 
place  of  many  matters,  all  important,  some  vital,  in  the  criticism  of 
Sainte-Beuve,  which  found  no  natural  place  in  the  more  closely  formu- 
lated divisions.  There  will  be  included  here  obiter  dictaj  conditions  for 
special  cases,  the  practical  order  of  procedure  in  actual  writing,  personal 
reactions,  and  other  such  matter  classifiable  together  only  as  being 
pertinent  to  Sainte-Beuve's  ideas  and  methods  of  work.  The  material, 
discussion  and  notes,  is  arranged  as  nearly  as  possible  in  logical  order, 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  order  in  which  they  would  come  into  play  in  the 
critical  process,  as  choosing  a  subject,  clearing  the  ground,  the  method 
and  point  of  attack,  limiting  and  defining  the  subject,  et  ainsi  de  suite. 

First  as  to  Sainte-Beuve's  method  of  choosing  his  subject  and  his 
favorite  type  of  subject:  his  choice  was  only  in  part  guided  by  his  own 
fancy.  He  was  a  journaHst  writing  for  a  living  and  obliged  to  handle 
timely  subjects;  his  vehicle  was  the  official  organ  of  the  government, 
and  poHtical  considerations  often  dictated  his  choice.  His  own  taste 
inclined  him  more  toward  pure  literature,  but  his  adherence  to  the 
government  of  the  second  empire  forced  him,  in  the  Causeries  du  lundi 
and  in  the  Nouveaux  lundisj  to  concern  himself  with  statesmen,  with 
generals,  with  diplomats,  pubUc  and  official  persons  and  their  affairs. 
It  is  true,  as  has  been  noticed  before,  that  he  interpreted  the  term 
"literature"  very  liberally,  so  that  we  find  him  studying,  for  instance, 
the  Journal  de  la  sante  du  roi  Louis  XI V^  or  the  Touareg  du  nord  of 
Henri  Duveyrier,^  and  he  says  elsewhere: 

Ma  vraie  ambition  dans  mon  genre  a  ete  celle-ci:  etendre  la  critique 
litteraire  a  tous  ceux  qui  ont  Scrit,  peintres,  architectes,  naturalistes.  ...  De 
cette  fagon,  on  6tend  le  champ  de  la  critique  litteraire  autant  que  possible, 
on  n'est  ferme  par  aucun  c6te  et  Ton  est,  par  consequent,  dans  le  veritable 
esprit  moderne.3 

At  times  he  seemed  to  feel  that  his  position  as  critic  for  the  govern- 
ment and  in  the  official  journal  constituted  an  obligation,  as  for  example: 
**Condamne  par  circonstances  a  ecrire  sur  tous  sujets,  je  ne  choisis  pas, 
je  traite  les  sujets  qui  s'offrent  d'eux-memes  a  ma  recontre;  tachant  de 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  360. 

'  Ibid.,  IX,  no.  3  Correspondance,  II,  122. 

83 


84      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

faire  honnetement  et  en  conscience  mon  metier,  voila  tout."^  His  cor- 
respondence with  the  librarians  of  the  Imperial  Library  throws  some 
interesting  light  on  this  matter.  But  not  even  his  somewhat  dogged 
if  not  disinterested  patriotism  could  persuade  him  to  write  on 
Napoleon  Ill's  Life  of  Caesar;  he  said  he  could  not  handle  it  without 
too  great  severity.  During  the  later  years  of  his  connection  with  the 
government  he  never  forgot  that  "Le  Moniteur  s'affiche  au  coin  des 
rues,"^  and  he  restrained  himself  with  suitable  discretion. 

Dans  cette  place  qui  m'est  accordee  aux  pages  du  Moniteur,  que  puis-je 
faire  de  mieux  que  de  m'occuper,  meme  au  risque  de  remonter  assez  haut 
dans  le  pass^,  des  grands  noms  qui  ont  honore  notre  litterature  et  notre  his- 
toire  ?  II  me  semble  quelquefois  qu'il  nous  est  permis  d'etaler  des  estampes 
et  des  images  aux  yeux  des  passants,  au  bas  des  murs  du  Louvre.  Lesquelles 
choisirions-nous  ?  Certes,  les  plus  celebres  et  les  plus  riches  en  souvenirs,  les 
plus  historiques,  les  plus  en  accord  avec  le  caractere  et  I'esprit  du  monument.^ 

In  this  passage  we  note  two  elements  in  his  choice  of  a  name  for 
discussion,  the  element  of  its  greatness  and  the  element  of  its  accepta- 
bility to  the  reading  public,  for  he  always  hoped  for  some  public  approval. 
Hence  the  spark  which  set  off  Sainte-Beuve's  train  of  thought,  the  occa- 
sion for  the  formulation  and  presentation  of  his  studies,  the  excuse  for 
the  publication  of  his  opinions,  the  opportunity  for  him  to  serve  his 
public,  from  whatever  point  of  view  one  regards  the  essay,  was  usually 
the  appearance  of  a  new  book  or  a  new  edition  of  an  old  book. 

The  first  etape,  and  an  arbitrary  though  very  actual  determining 
factor  in  his  choice,  was  the  relation  of  the  subject  to  the  regime  in 
control.  This  consideration  was,  however,  largely  inhibitive,  deciding 
rather  what  names  he  would  not  treat.  As  to  the  more  positive  and 
specific  grounds  upon  which  he  chose: 

On  peut  etre  critique  de  bien  des  sortes:  (a)  sur  des  6crivains  d'autrefois, 
sur  d'anciens  sujets  qu'on  traite  et  qu'on  rajeunit  sans  les  alt^rer  et  sans  les 
fausser;  {h)  sur  des  auteurs  modernes  et  des  sujets  a  Tordre  du  jour.< 

And  elsewhere  he  says: 

II  est  loin  le  temps  ou,  la  critique  frangaise  commengant  a  peine,  TAbb^  de 
Saint-Real  declarait  qu'on  ne  devait  critiquer  par  ecrit  que  les  morts,  et  qu'il 
fallait  se  borner  a  juger  en  conversation  les  vivants.  Aujourd'hui  on  se  juge 
tous  indifflrement  les  uns  les  autres,  en  public  et  par  ecrit,  vivants,  amis  de 
la  veille  et  confreres.    T^chons  du  moins  que  ce  soit  avec  6quit6  et  sinc6rit6.» 

'  Carres pondance,  I,  301. 

*  Catiseries  du  lundi,  X,  53.  ■*  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  263. 

3  Ibid.,  IX,  80.  s  Ibid.,  p.  3. 


PRECEPTS  AND  '' PROCtlDtlS''  85 

I  have  before  and  from  another  point  of  view  alluded  to  the  fact 
that  Sainte-Beuve  chose  for  comment  mediocre  and  minor  men  rather 
than  the  greatest.  This  statement  has  been  made  by  many  students 
and  frequently  with  a  certain  derogatory  implication.  Babbitt  points 
out  that,  though  Sainte-Beuve  again  and  again  paid  tribute  to  the  great 
geniuses,  he  was  above  all  scientifically  interested  in  the  more  ordinary 
individual;  "he  cannot  refrain  from  a  certain  satisfaction  when  an 
author  and  his  work  are  less  than  unique  and  are  therefore  more  capable 
of  being  explained."^  Sainte-Beuve  treats  with  just  as  much  compla- 
cency the  second-rate  writers  as  those  of  the  first  rank,  and  he  excels 
rather  in  discovering  differences  than  degrees  of  genius;  he  can  do  better 
in  pointing  out  pecuHarities  than  in  measuring  greatness.'  Many  pas- 
sages, however,  serve  to  place  this  matter  in  a  truer  hght,  summing 
up  convincingly  his  grounds  for  choosing  less  well-known  men;  such"^ 
grounds  are  that  they  alone  needed  the  services  of  criticism,  the  greatest 
masters  having  been  adequately  treated,^  and  the  fact  that  as  a  scientist 
Sainte-Beuve  dehghted  in  a  man  who,  being  less  than  unique,  could  be  v 
analyzed. 4 

A  vrai  dire,  M.  Coulmann  me  plait,  dans  ses  Mimoires,  par  ce  c6t6  meme 
d'absence  de  toute  originalite;  il  est  rexpression  honnete  et  facile  du  milieu 
ou  il  vit,  et  il  nous  en  marque  la  temperature  assez  exacte,  sans  y  meler  la 
resistance  ou  le  surcroit  d'un  caractere  trop  individuel.s 

This  less  striking  person  being  more  really  the  product  of  his  society 
than  the  man  of  genius  is  a  better  starting-point  for  those  social  studies 
in  which  Sainte-Beuve  was  eminently  interested — "La  critique  lit- 
teraire,  qui  doit  ^tre  heureuse  et  fiere  de  s'elever  toutes  les  fois  qu'elle 
rencontre  de  grands  sujets,  se  plait  pourtant,  par  sa  nature,  a  ces  sujets 
moyens  qui  ne  sont  point  pour  cela  mediocres,  et  qui  permettent  a  la 
morale  sociale  d'y  penetrer."^  The  complement  of  this  statement 
appears  in  this  passage: 

Les  grands  hommes  sont  sujets  a  faire  illusion  sur  Tepoque  qu'ils  eclairent 
et  qu'ils  remplissent  brillament  jusqu'a  eteindre  quelquefois  ce  qui  les  entoure; 
les  hommes  secondaires,  et  pourtant  essentiels  ont  I'avantage  de  nous  faire 
penetrer  avec  eux,  sans  eblouissement  et  sans  faste,  dans  les  parties  restees  a 
demi  obscures,  et  dans  les  rouages  memes  de  la  machine  dont  ils  etaient,  a 
certain  degre,  un  des  ressorts.? 

^  See  Babbitt,  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism,  pp.  160  ff. 

"  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  18. 

3  See  the  section  on  "The  Functions  of  Criticism,"  p.  8. 

^  Babbitt,  op.  cit.,  p.  163.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  188. 

5  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  141.  ''  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  420. 


86      SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

Further  he  complains  that  French  criticism  has  been  too  timid  and 
conservative,  keeping  too  much  to  the  well-known  subjects  and  the 
well-worn  paths  of  criticisms,  not  venturing  into  these  less-frequented 
regions  where  he  feels  it  his  duty  to  go/  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he 
says,  "je  n'elude  pas  syst^matiquement  tous  les  grands  sujets  qui  pas- 
sent,"*  he  "eludes"  nearly  all  of  the  greatest  names. 

He  attempts  no  profound  study  of  Moliere,  he  approaches  Goethe  almost 
solely  on  the  side  of  social  intercourse  through  the  letters  of  Bettina  and  the 
conversations  with  Eckermann ;  he  makes  the  same  exception  for  Shakespeare 
that  most  of  us  make  for  the  great  literatures  of  the  East,  as  something  which 
the  shortness  of  life  exempts  us  from  including  in  our  world  of  thought;  he 
has  Httle  to  say  about  Dante,  and  that  Httle  inadequate;  he  manages  to  create 
for  himself  a  sphere  of  philosophical  activity  in  which  we  miss  the  luminous 
presence  of  Plato,  and  a  train  of  dramatic  tradition  which  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  reach  back  to  Sophocles.  These  are  serious  omissions  for  which  no 
amount  of  interest  in  Chapelle  and  Bachaumont,  Rivarol,  Dangeau  and  Mile 
de  La  Valliere  can  compensate.  But  with  the  exception  of  Moliere  no  French 
peak  of  genius  was  too  high  for  his  exploring  foot.^ 

As  regards  extended  and  deUberate  studies  of  the  great  men  whom 
Harper  mentions  here,  he  is  quite  correct.  Still  it  must  be  pointed  out 
that  these  names  and  others  only  less  great  were  constantly  at  Sainte- 
Beuve's  pen  point,  exercising  a  dispersed  but  pervasive  influence, 
receiving  from  him  much  incidental  appreciation,  and  towering  con- 
stantly in  the  background  as  standards,  constituting  a  court  of  supreme 
appeal.^ 

Again,  while  it  is  true  that  very  frequently  Sainte-Beuve  occupied 
himseK  with  minor  writers  whom  he  rejoiced  in  as  "specimens"  more 
easily  handled  and  more  illustrative  of  principles  than  the  anomalous 
geniuses,  it  is  not  the  poor  writers  whom  he  advises  us  to  study,  but 

*  "Pourquoi  sommes  nous  ainsi  faits  en  France,  que  lorsqu'un  homme  distingu6 
et  de  talent  n'est  pas  entr6  k  un  certain  jour  dans  le  courant  de  la  vogue  et  dans  le 
train  habituel  de  Tadmiration  publique,  nous  devenions  si  sujets  k  le  n6gliger  et  k  le 
perdre  totalement  de  vue  ?  Et  au  contraire,  ceux  qui  sont  une  fois  connus,  adopt^s 
par  I'opinion  et  par  la  renomm6e,  nous  les  avons  sans  cesse  k  la  bouche  et  nous  les 
accablons  de  couronnes"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  446).  Once  the  man  has  become 
famous  we  all  see  genius  in  everything  he  does.  This,  too,  is  notable :  "  ...  on  pousse 
trop  k  I'admiration  quand  m6me,  on  ne  juge  plus;  une  fois  le  mot  g6nie  prononc6, 
tout  est  accept^,  proclam6,"  etc.  {Correspondance,  II,  94). 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  392.  3  Harper,  Sainte-Beuve,  p.  321. 

*  For  such  appreciation  see  on  Moliere,  Nouveaux  lundis;  V,  277;  on  Shakespeare, 
Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  336. 


PRECEPTS  AND  '' PROCtUtlS''  87 

rather  worthy  and  honorable  writers  of  the  second  rank.  The  very- 
poor  writers,  the  sots  et  les  demi-sots^  he  would  rather  neglect  completely 
than  merely  condemn. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Sainte-Beuve  was  thus  interested  primarily 
in  the  man  as  a  manifestation  of  his  times,  it  is  only  natural  that  as 
large  a  proportion  as  three-fourths  of  the  essays  should  be  taken  up 
with  memoirs,  letters,  and  biographies.  But  while  his  large  concern 
was  with  these  he  did  not  neglect  the  consideration  of  pure  literature; 
indeed,  he  always  felt  that  he  was  primarily  a  literary  critic.^  Memoirs, 
history,  letters,  novels,  dramas,  "eloquence"  he  revels  in,  but  rarely 
poetry. 

Je  cause  rarement  ici  de  po6sie,  precisement  parceque  je  I'ai  beaucoup 
aimee  et  que  je  I'aime  encore  plus  que  toute  chose;  je  craindrais  d'en  mal 
parler,  ou  du  moins  de  n'avoir  pas  a  en  bien  parler,  a  en  dire  assez  de  bien.^ 

To  be  sure  the  attraction  of  poetry  is  too  great  and  its  place  in  society 
too  important  to  warrant  his  neglecting  it  altogether,  nor  indeed  would 
his  personal  taste  permit  that  extreme.  "De  ce  que  j'ai  beaucoup  aime 
autrefois  la  poesie;  de  ce  que  je  I'ai  aimee  comme  on  doit  I'aimer  quand 
on  s'en  mele,  c'est-a-dire  trop,  ce  n'est  pas  une  raison  aujourd'hui  pour 
n'en  plus  parler  jamais. "^ 

So  with  characteristic  inclusiveness  of  view  Sainte-Beuve  explains 
that  while  feeling  himself  first  of  all  a  literary  critic,  his  duty  to  society 
demands  that  he  treat  all  manner  of  non-Hterary  subjects.  Taking 
up  for  study  Guizot's  Discours  sur  la  revolution  he  defends  his  choice 
thus: 

Si  je  venais  a  passer  sous  silence  ce  Discours  pour  parler  ...  d'un  reman 
ancien  ou  nouveau,  on  aurait  droit  de  penser  que  la  critique  litt6raire  se  recuse, 
qu'elle  se  reconnait  jusqu'a  un  certain  point  frivole,  qu'il  est  des  sujets  qu'elle 
s'interdit  comme  trop  imposants  ou  trop  epineux  pour  elle;  et  ce  n'est  jamais 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  122. 

» "  Si  le  Discours  de  M.  Guizot  etait  purement  politique,  je  le  laisserais  passer 
sans  le  croire  de  mon  ressort,  fidele  et  k  mon  r61e,  el  mon  golit  qui  sont  d'accord  pour 
s'en  tenir  a  la  litterature"  (Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  311).  This  is  again  one  of  those 
strange  contradictions  in  Sainte-Beuve  which  are  so  frequent.  He  always  left  a 
loophole  for  himself,  continually  forestalling  his  critics  by  making  room  pour  un  certain 
contraire;  in  this  case,  too,  he  even  contradicts  himself,  saying  elsewhere  that  we  must 
not  confine  ourselves  to  pure  literature  {Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  138), 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  51. 

<  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  247. 


88       SAINTE-BEUVKS  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

ainsi  que  j'ai  compris  cette  critique,  legere  sans  doute,  et  agreable  tant  qu'elle 
le  peut,  mais  ferme  et  serieuse  quand  il  le  faut  et  autant  qu'il  le  faut.^ 

When  opportunity  presented  itself  he  must  as  a  journalist  and  a 
pubUc  servant  ask  himself  on  the  very  threshold  of  his  preparation  to 
write,  whether  or  not  the  time  was  ripe  for  a  discussion  of  this  particular 
subject.  For  instance,  we  have  all  loved  Beranger,  he  says,  but  *'le 
temps  n'est-il  pas  venu  de  degager  un  peu  toutes  ...  ces  complaisances, 
de  payer  a  I'homme,  a  Fhonnete  homme  qui  a,  comme  tous,  plus  ou  moins, 
ses  faibles  et  ses  faiblesses  ...  de  lui  payer  une  part,"  etc.^  On  the 
other  hand  Mme  Sand  is  still  alive  and  active  and  "le  moment,  pour  la 
critique,  d'embrasser  ce  puissant  talent  dans  son  cours,  et  de  le  penetrer 
dans  sa  nature,  n'est  pas  venu,  selon  moi."^ 

Also  of  Balzac: 

Une  veritable  6tude  sur  le  romancier  c61ebre  qui  vient  d'etre  enlev6,  et 
dent  la  perte  soudaine  a  excite  I'inter^t  universel,  serait  tout  un  ouvrage  a  6crire, 
et  le  moment,  je  le  crois,  n'en  est  pas  venu.  Ces  sortes  d'autopsies  morales  ne  se 
font  pas  sur  une  tombe  recente,-*  surtout  quand  celui  qui  y  est  entr6  6tait 
plein  de  force,  de  fecondit^,  d'avenir,  et  semblait  encore  si  plein  d'oeuvres 
et  de  jours.s 

One  has  to  be  equally  careful  not  to  be  prematura  ^  nor  atarde,  but  must 
seize,  for  the  study  of  his  author,  the  psychological  moment;  in  the 
case  of  writers  no  longer  living  as  well  as  of  those  still  aUve,  a  moment 
sufficiently  removed  from  the  time  of  his  death  to  give  a  proper  perspec- 
tive, yet  not  so  far  removed  as  to  embarrass  the  gathering  of  contemporary 
opinion  and  evidence.  There  are,  to  be  sure,  certain  classic  authors 
who  are  to  Sainte-Beuve  always  de  Vordre  du  jour^  for  example'  Mon- 
taigne and  others  of  the  galaxy  of  fixed  stars  in  the  French  firmament. 
Sainte-Beuve  often  found  it  difficult  to  speak  with  complete  honesty 
and  fulness  because  he  so  often  discovered  that  his  judgment  was  at 

^Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  312.  Contrast,  however,  this  houtade:  "Le  trait6  de  la 
Resignation  [of  St.  Augustine]  d'ailleurs,  6chappe  k  la  critique  proprement  dite;  il 
est  entrem616  de  privies,  et  d^s  que  la  pri^re  commence,  la  critique  litt6raire  expire" 
(Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  251). 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  286.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  369. 

4  Another  contradiction!  This  is  true  only  of  the  great  who  will  not  be  forgotten 
anyway.  The  small  need  this  notice.  He  says  of  M.  de  Latouche:  "II  est  de  ceux 
dont  il  convient  de  parler  k  I'heure  oil  ils  disparaissent,  car  il  est  compliqu6,  diflficile 
k  comprendre,  et  la  post6rit6  n'a  le  temps  de  se  souvenir  que  de  ce  qui  se  d6tache  avec 
unit6  et  nettet6  (ibid.,  Ill,  474). 

s  Ibid.f  II,  443.  *•  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  64.  ^  Ibid.,  II,  156. 


PRECEPTS  AND  ''PROC^DJ^S"  89 

variance  with  accepted  opinion.  In  such  cases  it  required  courage  and 
tact  for  a  journaHst  to  speak  his  mind  without  apparent  impertinence 
and  with  any  hope  of  a  sympathetic  hearing,  especially  in  those  cases 
in  which  a  sort  of  cult  had  grown  up  about  a  popular  idol.  For  instance, 
when  he  comes  to  discuss  Montesquieu  he  says  that  he  has  written  much 
about  the  eighteenth  century  without  so  far  any  elaborate  treatment 
of  him  because  "il  est  un  de  ces  hommes  qu'on  n'aborde  qu'avec  crainte, 
a  cause  du  respect  reel  qu'ils  inspirent  et  de  I'espece  de  religion  qui  s'est 
faite  autour  d'eux."^  Lacordaire  is  equally  difficult  to  treat,  for  he  too 
had  inspired  unquestioning  enthusiasm  in  the  youth  of  his  generation. 

La  critique  litteraire,  avec  ses  respects  et  ses  reserves,  s'arrete  etonn^e 
devant  de  tels  elans  enthousiastes;  elle  y  regarde  a  deux  fois  avant  de  les 
contrarier.  On  hesite  quand  on  marche  seul,  ...  et  qu'on  n'a  pour  soi  que  le 
groupe  si  dissemine  des  gens  senses,  qui  ne  se  connaissent  pas  entre  eux,  a 
venir  admirer  trop  faiblement  le  chef  d'une  milice  blanche  eblouissante,"  etc.^ 

But  when  there  is  need  the  critic  must  overcome  his  reluctance,  face  the 
possible  disapproval,  and  speak,  "il  faut  absolument  que  le  grain  de  sel 
sorte,  si  grain  de  sel  il  y  a."^ 

Sainte-Beuve  feels  that  a  similar  courage  and  sense  of  duty  must 
inspire  the  critic  who  enters  a  new  field.  "On  hesite  toujours  a  se 
mettre  en  avant  quand  I'opinion  de  la  foule  ne  nous  a  pas  fraye  le  chemin; 
il  faut  meme,  pour  cela,  une  espece  particuliere  de  courage,  ce  que 
j'appelle  le  courage  du  jugement."^  Grimm  he  praises  for  his  courage 
in  attacking  new  subjects. 

Un   excellent   critique  ...  et   venant   le   premier   dans   ses   jugements;      ^ 
n'oublions  pas  cette  derniere  condition.    Quand  la  reputation  des  auteurs  est 
^tablie,  il  est  aise  d'en  parler  convenablement  ...  mais  a  leurs  debuts,  ...  et 
a  mesure  qu'ils  se  developpent,  les  juger  avec  tact,  ...  predire  leur  essor  ou 
deviner  leurs  limites,  ...  c'est  la  le  propre  du  critique  ne  pour  retre."s 

And  it  is  precisely  that  which  is  the  hardest  task  of  the  critic.  But  he 
is  less  than  the  well-equipped  critic  until  he  acquires  the  courage  of  his 
convictions  and  feels  himself  well  enough  established  to  do  the  unpopular 
thing, 

il  semble  qu'il  faille  que  tout  talent,  tout  genie  nouveau  entre  ainsi  dans  les 
sujets  I'epee  a  la  main,  comme  Renaud  dans  la  foret  enchantee,  et  qu'il  doive 
f rapper  hardiment  jusqu'a  ce  qu'il  ait  rompu  le  charme;  la  conquete  du  vrai 
et  du  beau  est  a  ce  prix.^ 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  41.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  393. 

3  Ihid.    The  grain  de  sel,  the  candid  opinion  of  the  critic. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  476.  s  lUd.,  VII,  287.  ^  Ihid.,  p.  211. 


90       SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

When  the  critic  has  made  choice  of  his  subject,  and  when,  if  he  has 
chosen  a  new  or  an  unpopular  task,  he  has  screwed  his  courage  to  the 
sticking-place,  he  is  ready  to  prepare  himself  to  give  a  judgment.  Prepara- 
tion consists  in  steeping  himself  in  his  subject  and  in  its  connections, 
gathering  all  manner  of  facts  concerning  his  man,  personaUty,  history, 
environment,  and  reputation.  This  acquisitive  process  has  naturally 
received  much  attention  in  another  section  of  this  dissertation,^  to 
which  the  following  important  caution  may  be  added: 

Vous  qui  etes  appele  a  ecrire  sur  Tart,  rappelez-vous  bien  ceci:  La  vie 
humaine,  la  vie  sociale  a  existe  sous  toutes  sortes  de  formes  ...  quand  elle 
s'est  6vanouie,  rien  n'est  si  difficile  que  de  la  ressaisir.' 

Sainte-Beuve  would  emphasize  the  importance  of  collecting  the 
facts  about  a  man's  reputation  and  of  studying  what  has  been  said  about 
him,  particularly  when  the  subject  is  the  critic's  contemporary: 

La  vraie  critique  a  Paris  se  fait  en  causant;  c'est  en  allant  au  scrutin  de 
toutes  les  opinions,  et  en  depouillant  ce  scrutin  avec  intelligence,  que  le 
critique  composerait  son  resultat  le  plus  complet  et  le  plus  juste.3 

His  desire  for  a  solid  foundation  for  authoritative  opinions  led  him 
to  place  tremendous  emphasis  on  the  scholarly,  eruditional,  investigating 
aspect  of  the  critic's  task.  But  he  was  never  long  without  reminding 
us  that  this  process  is  only  a  necessary  preUminary  to  the  final  task: 

Tout  en  profitant  de  notre  mieux  des  instruments,  un  peu  onereux  parfois, 
de  la  critique  nouvelle  [that  is,  scientific  and  historical  criticism],  nous  retien- 
drons  quelques-unes  des  habitudes  ...  de  Tancienne  critique,  accordant  la 
premiere  place  dans  notre  admiration  et  notre  estime  a  I'invention.^ 

He  takes  pride  in  having  availed  himself  of  the  results  of  other  scholars* 
work:  "Moi-m^me  j'en  ai  largement  use  en  mon  temps  (des  travaux 
autrui) ;  je  ne  me  suis  fait  faute  de  marcher  avec  le  secours  et  I'appui 
des  a,utres."5  While  he  declares  that  he  was  not  born  to  be  an  erudit, 
one  of  those  who  have  defriche  le  moyen  dge^  he  does  not  scorn  such 
scholars,  nor  minimize  their  labors;  indeed,  he  plucks  with  gratitude 
the  fruit  of  their  endeavors.  Almost  paradoxically,  however,  Sainte- 
Beuve  says  that  when  the  critic  has  assembled  all  this  knowledge  he 
must  put  it  into  the  background  so  that  he  can  attack  his  work  with 
vital  interest  and  unjaded  taste.  Starting  into  his  task  of  criticizing  he 
ought  to  "s'inquieter  avant  tout  des  interets  du  talent."^ 

^  See  section  on  "Scientific  Criticism." 

*  Causcries  du  lundi,  XI,  516, 

3  Ihid.,  I,  448.  s  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  471. 

4 /Wd.,  XV,  378.  ^  Ibid.,  Ill,  17. 


PRECEPTS  AND  '"PROCJ^DJ^S"  91 

The  following  passages  throw  some  additional  light  on  Sainte- 
Beuve's  teaching  as  to  the  critic's  need  to  saturate  himself  in  the  affairs 
of  his  author :  "  Ce  n'est  qu'en  laissant  s'ecouler  un  long  espace  de  temps 
que  I'on  arrive  a  connaitre  a  fond  la  personne  qu'on  etudie."^  **I1  est 
plus  difficile  qu'on  ne  le  croirait  de  saisir  tout  d'une  venue  les  grands 
hommes  en  tout  genre:  il  faut  du  temps  et  passer  par  plus  d'un  degr6 
pour  arriver  a  les  embrasser  dans  leur  ensemble."^  As  regards  his  own 
case,  "pour  comprendre  un  homme  et  pour  le  peindre  j'ai  besoin  de 
m'y  reprendre  jusqu'a  deux  et  trois  fois,  qu'importe,  me  permettrai-je 
de  dire  ainsi,  pourvu  que  j'arrive  au  but,  qui  est  la  verite."^ 

One  among  the  first  steps  in  the  critical  process  is  to  free  one's  mind 
from  preconceptions  arising  from  the  domination  of  fixed  ideas.  Pne 
should  judge  afresh  in  each  case. 

II  y  aurait  un  article  facile  a  faire  sur  ces  memoires  de  Catherine  (de  Russia), 
et  c'est  celui  que  je  ne  ferai  pas.  II  n'y  aurait  pour  cela  qu'a  partir  de  quelques 
principes  generaux  et  convenus,  a  se  montrer  rigide  et  inexorable  pour  tout 
ce  qui  s'ecarte  de  nos  mceurs,  de  notre  6tat  de  societe  ...  on  arriverait  ainsi  a 
un  effet  certain  et  a  une  unite  de  conclusion  qui  s6duit  et  satisfait  toujours 
a  premiere  vue  les  lecteurs  superficiels  et  les  esprits  tout  d'une  piece.  Mais 
la  nature  humaine  est  moins  simple* 

and  refuses  to  be  shaped  in  the  mold  of  a  fixed  idea.s 

Le  devoir  de  la  critique  dans  tout  sujet  est  avant  tout  de  I'envisager  sans 
parti  pris,  de  se  tenir  exempte  de  preventions,  fussent-elles  des  mieux  fondees, 
et  de  ne  pas  sacrifier  davantage  a  celles  de  ses  lecteurs."*' 

The  fundamental  shortcoming  of  Nisard's  Histoire  de  la  litterature 
frangaise  is  that  it  is  written  with  a  preconceived  notion  of  the  French 
spirit,  and  upon  this  Procrustean  bed  the  .historian  forces  every  author 
he  handles. 7  The  fact  that  Michelet  writes  history  to  prove  or  exemplify 
an  idea  locates  him  at  the  opposite  critical  pole  from  Sainte^Beuve  him- 
self.* The  most  prevalent  of  fixed  ideas  are  those  that  concern  morality 
and  those  that  determine  the  social  conventions;  all  these  Sainte-Beuve 

*  Cahiers,  p.  145.  3  Cakiers,  p.  145. 

"  Nouveaux  lundis,  X,  23,  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  179. 

s  "L'inconvenient  du  syst^me  de  La  Rochefoucauld  est  de  donner  pour  tous  les 
ordres  d 'action  une  explication  uniforme  et  jusqu'd,  un  certain  point  abstraite,  quand 
la  nature,  au  contraire,  a  multipli^  les  instincts,  les  goiits,  les  talents  divers,  et  qu'elle 
a  color6  en  mille  sens  cette  poursuite  entrecrois6e  de  tous,  cette  course  imp6tueuse  et 
savante  de  chacun  vers  I'objet  de  son  desir"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  411). 

^  Nouveaux  lundis ^  XII,  31. 

">  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  211.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  112. 


92       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

would  abrogate  when  they  are  merely  traditional  or  artificial;  one  must 
,  speak  "  sans  aucune  gene,  sans  aucune  de  ces  fausses  reserves  qu'imposent 
les  ...  respects  humains  hypocrites."^ 

The  rigid  and  unimaginative  adherence  to  principle  passes  into  a 
slavish  observance  of  rules  and  precepts,  a  state  of  things  which  Sainte- 
Beuve  saw  in  the  neo-classicists  who  blindly  and  uncreatively  followed 
tradition.  To  him  the  greatest  disaster  that  could  befall  the  mind 
was  stagnation,  the 'encysting  of  one's  self  in  the  shell  of  fixed  principles 
whether  of  moraUty  or  of  art,  where  one  reaches  the  mere  negation  of 
progress,  impedes  the  flux,  and  becomes  automatically  incapable 
of  comprehending  life  or  its  manifestation  in  art.  The  remedy  is,  of 
course,  to  keep  moving,  to  keep  an  open  and  hospitable  mind,  to  subject 
to  constant  re-examination  inherited  and*  early  acquired  ideas;  as 
Matthew  Arnold  would  say,  to  allow  a  stream  of  fresh  ideas  to  play 
freely  over  one's  stock  notions.  The  most  conspicuous  danger  of  the 
fixed  idea  is  that  it  offers  an  invitation,  difficult  to  resist,  to  falsify  life. 
"Leroux  m'a  fait  comprendre.qu'il  y  a  chez  les  systematiques  convaincus 
une  heure  mauvaise  oil  le  charlatanisme  se  gUsse  aisement,  et  ou,  si 
I'on  n'y  prend  pas  garde,  I'indifference  sur  le  choix  des  moyens  com- 
mence."^ To  mutilate  or  ,to  manipulate  the  truth  to  fit  his  personal 
view  was  to  Sainte-Beuve  a  capital  crime  in  a  critic.  This  form  of 
charlatanism  is  at  its  worst  when  the  critic  yields  to  the  cheap  temptation 
to  please  at  all  costs: 

Biographe  litteraire,  je  souffre  toutes  les  fois  que  je  vois  des  critiques 
eminents  a  tant  d'egards  et  en  possession  d'un  art  merveilleux,  ...  ne  songer 
a  tirer  parti  des  faits  que  pour  les  fausser  dans  le  sens  de  I'effet  passager,  et  de 
I'applaudissement.  Qu'on  retourne  la  chose  comme  on  le  voudra;  dans  le 
cas  present,  il  y  a  flagrant  delit  de  talent,  de  malice  et  d'inexactitude.* 

If  in  attacking  his  subject  the  critic  must  impose  upon  it  no  fixed  ideas 
of  his  own,  he  must  equally  refuse  to  allow  himself  to  be  overpowered 
by  his  subject.    He  must  follow  its  lead,  but  he  must  keep  a  clear  head: 

II  y  a  deux  manieres  de  prendre  les  choses  et  les  personnages  du  monde 
et  de  rhistoire;  ou  bien  de  les  accepter  par  leur  surfaces,  ...  (ou  bien)  de  les 
fouiller  et  de  les  sonder  quoi  qu'ils  en  aient;  de  les  mettre  a  jour  et  de  les  demas- 
quer  impitoyal^ement,^ 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  285.  "  Cahiers,  p.  50. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  453.  For  similar  utterances  on  the  mistake  of  having 
fixed  ideas  in  attacking  a  subject,  see  also  ibid.,  IV,  29;  VII,  229. 

^  Ibid.,  Ill,  27 5, 


PRECEPTS  AND  ''PROCJ^DSS"  93 

and  not  be  imposed  upon  by  any  external  decorum,  any  surface  appear- 
ance, whether  of  a  man  or  an  epoch.  However  kindly  the  critic  may 
be,  he  should  not  allow  his  generosity  to  accept  any  man  at  his  own 
valuation  without  examination  and  confirmation: 

II  y  a  deux  manieresd'aborder  Carrel:  ...  II  y  a  une  maniere  plus  poetique, 
plus  genereuse  peut-etre,  plus  magnifique,  qui  consisterait  a  voiler  les  defauts 
a  faire  ressortir  les  belles  et  grandes  qualites  ...  mais  il  y  a  un  autre  point  de 
vue  ...  qui  permet  de  voir  les  defauts,  d'entrevoir  les  motifs,  de  noter  les 
alterations,  et  qui,  sans  rien  violer  du  respect  qu'on  doit  a  une  noble  memoire, 
restitue  a  I'observation  morale  tous  ses  droits.^ 

He  returns  many  times  to  this  idea,  the  refusal  to  take  a  man  at  his  own 
valuation;  he  enjoys  the  thought  of  destroying  an  egotistic  author's 
heroic  pose,  of  revealing  him  as  merely  human: 

Je  crois  ...  que  quand  on  le  peut,  et  quandle  modele  a  pose  sufiisamment 
devant  vous,  il  faut  faire  les  portraits  les  plus  ressemblants  possible,  les  plus 
6tudies  et  les  plus  reellement  vivants,  y  mettre  les  verrues,  les  signes  au  visage, 
tout  ce  qui  caracterise  une  physionomie  au  naturel,  et  faire  partout  sentir  le 
nu  et  les  chairs  sous  les  draperies,  sous  le  pli  meme  et  le  faste  du  manteau  ... 
Je  crois  que  la  vie  y  gagne  et  que  la  grandeur  vraie  n'y  perit  pas.' 

A  critic  who  possesses  this  abihty  is  of  the  true  critical  Uneage :  "  honnete, 
scrupuleuse,  impartiale,  nee  de  Bayle."^ 

Impartiahty,  indeed,  is  an  indispensable  virtue  of  the  critic.  Writing 
of  Pontmartin,  he  says: 

Mon  desir  serait  de  le  faire  dans  un  parfait  esprit  d'impartiality:  car  ... 
cette  neutralite  meme  que  M.  de  Pontmartin  m'a  si  souvent  reprochee,  devient, 
je  I'avoue,  un  de  mes  derniers  plaisirs  intellectuels.  ...  Ne  rien  dire  sur  les 
ecrivains  meme  qui  nous  sont  opposes,  rien  que  leurs  amis  judicieux  ne  pensent 
deja  et  ne  soient  forces  d'avouer  et  d'admettre,  ce  serait  mon  ambition  derniere.'' 

He  felt  keenly  that  the  critic  ought  never  to  allow  his  personal  dislike 
to  bias  his  opinion,  as  did  Taine  in  his  presentation  of  Pope:  "  J'aimerais 
en  Utterature  a  proportionner  toujours  notre  methode  a  notre  sujet 
et  a  entourer  de  soins  tout  particuhers  celui  qui  les  appelle  et  qui  les 
merite."s  He  himself  endeavors  in  studying  Flaubert's  Salammbd  to 
"oublier  notre  haison  avec  I'auteur,  notre  amitie  meme  pour  lui"  and 
to  do  his  subject  justice  purely  on  its  merits.** 

^  Ihid,,  VI,  84.  ■*  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  i. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  17.  s  Ibid.,  VIII,  106. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  379.  ^  Ibid.,  IV,  31. 


94       SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

So  far  these  are  preliminary  and  partly  negative  operations.  Having 
chosen  his  subject,  having  investigated  it  in  all  those  relations  that 
promise  light,  having  freed  his  mind  from  fixed  ideas,  having  laid  aside 
as  far  as  possible  prejudice  favorable  or  unfavorable,  having  forgotten 
friendship  and  enmities  alike,  the  critic  comes  to  a  more  positive  activity. 

As  the  opening  maneuver  of  his  direct  attack  he  desired  to  set  up 
the  actual  boundaries  of  his  theme,  to  determine  with  approximate 
definitions  the  delimitations  of  his  field.  Life  is  so  complex,  so  infinitely 
detailed,  a  man  can  be  regarded  under  so  many  different  aspects,  that 
it  becomes  necessary  to  define  and  limit  one's  task  "et  d'abord  je  tracerai 
un  cercle  autour  de  mon  sujet,  et  je  dirai  a  ma  pensee  et  a  ma  plume: 
Tu  nHras  pas  plus  loin"^  One  must  have  the  resolution  and  the  self- 
denial  necessary  for  sifting  out  irrelevant  material,  no  matter  how 
interesting,  and  for  shutting  his  eyes  to  the  large  mass  of  extraneous 
knowledge.  The  critic's  essay  should  be  homogeneous  and  unified,  of  one 
inspiration,  contemplating  his  man  or  book  under  one  consistent  aspect. 
If  he  is  not  able  to  make  such  an  essay,  either  because  he  lacks  the  neces- 
sary logic  or  because  his  subject  demands  discursive  treatment,  he  should 
make  divisions  and  give  a  series  of  studies.  *' Au  point  ou  je  suis  arrive 
dans  la  carriere  scientifique  et  Htteraire  de  M.  Littre,  je  suis  obUge  de 
prendre  un  parti  et  de  diviser  I'homme,  sans  quoi  je  ne  pourrais  le  suivre 
de  front  dans  tous  les  ordres  de  travaux."^  Bossuet  also  he  treats  in  a 
series  of  studies,  regarding  him  successively  and  separately  as  historian, 
as  preacher,  as  letter  writer,  and  as  bishop. 

He  considers  it  more  necessary  so  to  circumscribe  and  divide,  in  the 
work  of  minor  writers,  because  the  whole  of  their  work  is  not  worth 
studying: 

II  convient  d'observer  un  certain  art  dans  I'arrangement  des  reputations: 
les  grands  hommes  sent  faits  pour  etre  connus  et  etudies  tout  entiers;  mais, 
quand  un  homme  n'a  eu  qu'un  coin  de  talent,  il  est  inutile  de  s'^tendre  sur 
tout  ce  qui  n'est  pas  ce  talent  meme.^ 

As  a  part  of  the  dehmiting  process  he  would  try  to  get  at  the  salient 
characteristics  of  his  author,  and  he  would  hope  to  show  his  faults  and 
virtues  not  in  absolute  relief  but  relatively  and  in  proportion.  ''  Quant 
a  moi,  je  pense  qu'il  convient,  dans  la  biographie  d'un  homme,  dans  son 
portrait  fidele,  de  conserver  aux  choses  I'importance  relative  qu'elles 
eurent  dans  sa  vie  et  dans  ses  pensees."^ 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  IIE,  384.        '  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  226.        '  Ibid.,  VII,  378. 

^Ibid.y  XII,  54.  He  says  of  his  treatment  of  d'Aubign6:  "Je  ne  dirai 
aujourd'hui  que  ce  qui  me  semble  n6cessaire  pour  presenter  cette  forte  figure  en  son 
vrai  jour,  sans  exag6rer  ni  ses  vertus,  ni  sa  puret6,  ni  ses  m6rites,  mais  sans  rien  oublier 
non  plus  d'essentiel  en  ce  qui  le  distingue"  {Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  313). 


PRECEPTS  AND  "PROC^D^S"  95 

His  hope  and  endeavor,  whatever  his  subject,  were  to  define  it  "par 
ses  traits  principaux  et  par  ce  qui  la  caracterise  entre  toutes.  Ce 
caractere  est  le  plus  souvent  delicat  a  saisir  et  a  determiner."'  Such  a 
defining  of  the  author's  saUent  characteristics  and  of  the  point  of  view 
from  which  he  is  to  be  approached,  such  bringing  into  reUef  of  his  char- 
acteristic features,  is  the  most  important  thing  the  critic  can  do  until 
the  moment  comes  for  final  judgment.^ 

In  any  event,  Sainte-Beuve  felt  that  the  first  approach  to  an  author 
should  be  on  the  side  of  his  praiseworthy  qualities  rather  than  on  the 
side  which  called  for  censure: 

Avec  tout  personnage  historique,  il  faut  s'attaquer  d'abord  aux  grands  c6tes ; 
je  ne  sais  si  j'aurai  le  temps  de  marquer  chez  Retz  toutes  les  faiblesses,  toutes 
les  infirmites,  toutes  les  hontes  meme,  et  de  les  fletrir;  mais  je  me  reprocherais 
de  n'avoir  pas  des  Tabord  designe  en  lui  les  signes  manifestes  de  superiorit6 
et  de  force,  qui  enlevent  Fadmiration  quand  on  Tapproche,  et  quoi  qu'on  en  ait.3 

This  approach  to  a  man  on  the  side  of  his  excellence  is,  moreover, 
a  question  of  expediency,  since  it  is  most  difficult  to  secure  and  maintain 
a  truly  critical  poise  when  one  studies  the  faults  first: 

Une  des  choses  auxquelles  il  est  le  plus  difficile  de  s'accoutumer  en  jugeant 
les  hommes,  c'est  de  maintenir  la  part  de  leurs  talents  ou  de  leurs  qualites, 
apres  qu'on  a  reconnu  celle  de  leurs  defauts  ou  de  leurs  vices.4 

Having  appreciated  his  good  quahties  we  must  at  once  recognize 
and  admit  his  defects,  so  as  to  erect  a  complete  image  of  the  real  man. 
Chateaubriand,  for  example,  must  suffer  some  diminishing  of  reputation, 
for  he  has  been  estimated  much  too  highly.  Of  course  a  critic  when  he 
is  weighing  faults  must  be  scrupulous,  lest  he  pass  beyond  the  bounds 
of  reason  and  justice: 

Ce  qu'il  faudra  faire  alors  pour  maintenir  les  justes  droits  de  sa  renommee, 
ce  sera,  en  bonne  critique  comme  en  bonne  guerre,  d'abandonner  sans  diffi- 
culte  toutes  les  parties  de  ce  vaste  domaine  qui  ne  sont  pas  vraiment  belles 
ni  susceptibles  d'etre  serieusement  defendues,  et  de  se  retrancher  dans  les 
portions  tout  a  fait  superieures  et  durables. s 

When  he  makes  out  his  critical  balance  sheet,  the  student  must 
be  sure  that  he  has  really  distinguished  debits  from  credits.  It  is  by 
no  means  an  unnecessary  caution  to  warn  the  critic  to  make  sure  that 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  416.        '  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  443.        3  Ibid.,  V,  53. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  166.  Contrast  this  passage  from  his  article  on  Pontmartin:  "Je  suis 
forc6  de  commencer  mon  examen  ...  par  son  c6t6  le  plus  faible,"  etc.  {Nouveaux 
lundis,  II,  5). 

s  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  177. 


96      SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

his  subject  really  possesses  the  quaUties  for  which  he  is  praising  him. 
"Nous  tacherons  ...  done  de  ne  pas  tout  mettre  a  la  fois  sur  quelques 
grands  ecrivains.  Nous  tacherons,  en  parlant  d'eux,  que  I'eloge  porte 
sur  la  qualite  principale;  car  il  y  a,  meme  chez  les  grands  auteurs,  une 
quahte  principale."^  It  is  desirable  to  be  cordial  and  enthusiastic  when 
possible,  and  to  admire  when  one  can,  "mais  encore  faut-il  savoir 
diriger  sa  louange  et  ne  pas  la  faire  monter  en  fusee.' 

But  only  discrimination  gives  value  to  enthusiasm.  An  author 
should  not  be  commended  for  the  deUcacy  of  his  art,  where  force  and 
grandeur  are  his  quaUties.  In  the  work  of  Pascal  you  may  legitimately 
praise  the  art  of  Provinciates;  but  in  the  Pensees  you  must  praise  the 
force  and  moral  energy.  You  must  praise  the  impetuosity  and  fulness 
of  Bossuet's  speech,  but  the  distinction  and  grace  of  Fenelon's.  The 
fact  that  the  critic  sees  certain  fine  quaUties  in  his  subject  must  not 
blind  him  to  the  presence  of  others,  different,  but  also  admirable. 
"Quand  un  homme  s'est  rendu  celebre  par  un  talent  reconnu  dans  un 
genre,  on  a  peine  a  lui  en  reconnaitre,  et  a  lui  en  accorder  un  autre. "^ 
To  recognize  Bossuet  as  a  great  preacher  should  not  preclude  the  recog- 
nition of  him  as  a  historian;  to  applaud  Victor  Hugo  as  a  poet  and  to 
realize  that  his  truest  fame  rests  upon  his  poetry  should  not  prevent  the 
critics  from  acknowledging  his  success  as  a  noveUst. 

Then  having  fortified  himself  with  the  courage  and  authority  of 
these  rules,  the  critic  should  for  the  rest  place  himself  in  the  hands  of  his 
author: 

Respectons  la  volonte  de  I'artiste,  son  caprice,  et  apres  avoir  exhale  notre 
leger  murmure,  laissons-nous  docilement  conduire  ou  il  lui  plait  de  nous  mener. 
Mais  sachons  du  moins  de  quels  elements  il  disposait  a  Torigine,  afin  d'etre  a 
m^me  de  juger  ce  qu'il  en  a  fait  et  ce  qu'il  y  a  ajoute  de  son  propre  fonds.^ 

Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem  in  view  of  Sainte-Beuve's  principle  for 
measuring  work  by  the  great  classical  standards,  and  his  fondness  for 
assigning  a  man  his  "place"  either  implicitly  or  expUcitly,  the  foregoing 
passage  might  fairly  be  taken  as  a  summary  of  his  critical  ideal.  Gather 
aU  possible  knowledge  about  your  author,  eliminate  the  trivial  and 
irrelevant,  eradicate  your  own  prejudices  and  eccentricities,  isolate  his 
significant  or  characteristic  quaUty  or  service,  and,  for  the  rest,  follow 
his  lead,  take  him  as  he  is,  let  him  speak  for  himself.  In  several  impor- 
tant passages  Sainte-Beuve  seems  to  say  that,  having  accepted  an  author 

*  Causeries  du  lundi^  XV,  380.  Compare  this  with  his  doctrine  of  the  faculU 
mattresse. 

» Ibid.,  p.  380.  3  Cahiers,  p.  172.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  35. 


PRECEPTS  AND  "PROCJED^S"  97 

for  discussion,  the  critic  is  at  his  mercy;  that  just  in  so  far  as  the  critic 
is  a  scientist  he  is  at  the  mercy  of  his  facts,  which  he  must  not  alter  or 
manipulate — he  is  in  fact  a  simple  rapporteur^  of  what  he  finds.  We 
must,  of  course,  bear  in  mind  that  this  is  with  Sainte-Beuve  a  formal 
theory,  a  logically  constructed  ideal: 

Je  suis  critique,  et,  en  avangant  dans  la  vie,  j'ai  le  malheur  de  sentir  que 
je  ra'attache  de  plus  un  plus  au  vrai  en  lui  meme,  et  que  je  n'entre  plus  dans 
le  jeu  ...  en  prenant  la  plume,  je  tiche  de  rendre  compte  hautement  de  ce 
qui  est,  de  maniere  que  meme  les  mecontents  ne  puissent  me  contredire.* 

And  here  follows  an  uncompromising  statement  of  this  idea:  "II  en  est 
de  I'analyse  critique  comme  de  I'analyse  chimique:  on  est  exacte  ou  on 
ne  Test  pas."^    And  again, 

Un  critique  pur  est  entierement  a  la  merci  de  son  examen,  du  moment 
qu'il  y  a  apporte  toutes  les  conditions  d'exactitude  et  toutes  les  precautions 
necessaires;  il  trouve  ce  qu'il  trouve,  et  il  le  dit  tout  net;  le  chimiste  nous 
montre  le  resultat  de  son  experience,  il  n'y  peut  rien  changer.^ 

The  truly  scrupulous  critic  feels  that  he  is  honest  only  when  he  has 
told  the  whole  truth.  Sainte-Beuve  censures  La  Bruyere  for  that  form 
of  dishonesty: 

Ce  Portrait  de  Fontenelle  par  La  Bruyere  est  pour  nous  une  grande  legon; 
il  nous  montre  comment  un  peintre  habile,  un  critique  penetrant,  peut  se 
tromper  en  disant  vrai,  mais  en  ne  disant  pas  tout,  et  en  ne  devinant  pas  assez 
que,  dans  cette  bizarre  et  complexe  organisation  humaine,  un  defaut,  un  travers 
et  un  ridicule  des  plus  caracterises  n'est  jamais  incompatible  avec  une  quality 
superieure."s 

Sainte-Beuve's  doctrine  of  the  qualite  mattresse  is  central  in  his 
critical  theory  and  has  been  discussed  in  another  place.  But  important 
as  he  held  it  to  isolate  this  master-quality,  he  would  not  have  it  eclipse 
for  the  critic  other  less  dominant  qualities.  *'Je  crains  toujours  dans 
ces  portraits  de  pousser  a  la  caricature,  ce  qui  pour  quelques-uns  des 
personnages  serait  facile,  mais  ce  qui  est  plein  d'inconvenients  et  ce  qui 
derange  pour  le  lecteur  la  vraie  proportion  des  choses."^ 

These  last  few  passages  serve  to  reinforce  and  to  restate  much  of 
the  matter  presented  in  the  previous  study  of  the  function  of  criticism 
and  of  Sainte-Beuve  as  a  scientific  critic.  Indeed  we  may  say  that  he 
is  stating  the  same  truth,  this  time,  however,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
practical  procedure  rather  than  as  an  ideal  result,  or  a  theoretical  method. 

^  Ibid.,  VI,  s.  4  Ibid.,  II,  409. 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  292.  s  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  322. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  265.  ^  Ibid.,  VIII,  439. 


98       SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

Sainte-Beuve  complains  of  those  critics  and  biographers  who  distort 
the  perspective  of  their  subject,  or,  to  borrow  a  figure  from  still  another 
art,  transpose  their  theme  into  a  wrong  key.  "La  premiere  loi  d'un 
portrait  est  de  ne  pas  le  faire  dans  un  ton  oppose  a  celui  du  modele."' 
*'Je  me  suis  dit  souvent  que  les  portraits  devaient  ^tre  faits  selon  le 
ton  et  I'esprit  du  modele,"^  so  that  one  should  not  treat  Victor  Hugo  in 
a  classical  spirit,  nor  Andr6  Chenier  in  a  tone  of  romanticism;  a  por- 
trait of  De  Vigny  should  be  *'bien  simple  et  tout  ideal. "^  Speaking  of 
Beaumarchais  he  says  that  "11  faut  se  garder  d'etre  systematique,  car 
lui  m^me  il  ne  I'etait  pas."4  Sainte-Beuve  was  himself  peculiarly  gifted 
in  the  matter  of  catching  and  preserving  the  tone  of  his  model.  He 
knew  and  valued  highly  the  service  of  the  wisely  chosen  quotation,  of 
letting  his  man  speak  for  himself  at  the  significant  and  crucial  points: 
"  Je  ne  me  pardonnerais  point  d'avoir  parle  si  longuement  de  Buff  on  sans 
en  rien  citer,  et  le  lecteur  aurait  droit  de  m'en  vouloir."s  *' Je  voudrais, 
selon  mon  habitude,  donner  quelque  idee,  par  une  citation,  du  genre 
d'esprit  et  de  finesse  de  cet  excellent  conteur,"  etc.^  "  II  y  a  un  charmant 
passage  que  je  veux  pourtant  citer,  car  je  suis  de  ceux  qui  citent,  et  qui 
ne  sont  contents  que  quand  ils  ont  decoupe  dans  un  auteur  un  bon 
morceau,  un  joU  echantillon."^  It  is  partly  this  method  of  skilful 
analysis,  accompanied  by  copious  quotation,  that  constitutes  what  we 
may  call  Sainte-Beuve's  virtuosity  in  keeping  the  "tone"  of  his  model. 
But  he  is  impelled  to  sound  a  warning  against  the  misuse  of  this  device, 
citing  Montesquieu  as  a  horrible  example: 

II  arrive  souvent  qu'il  cite  inexactement  et  pour  I'effet,  comme  Chateau- 
briand le  fera  plus  tard;  cela  arrive  aux  hommes  d'imagination  qui  se  servent 
de  rerudition  sans  pouvoir  s'y  assujettir  ni  la  maitriser.  On  prend,  en  lisant, 
une  note  avec  esprit,  avec  saillie;  et  ensuite,  en  composant,  on  se  donne  une 
peine  infinie  pour  faire  passer  sa  route  royale  par  rendroit  de  la  note  illustre 
ou  m^me  quelquefois  de  I'historiette  legere.* 

And  one  is  tempted  to  inquire  how  often  even  Sainte-Beuve  permitted 
himself  to  make  a  wide  critical  detour  for  the  sake  of  introducing  some 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  82. 

'*  Ibid.,  p.  398.  "Mignet  commet  de  16g^res  inexactitudes  ou  des  fautes  de 
nuances  dans  les  couleurs  qu'il  emploie"  {Causeries  du  liindi,  VIII,  302).  "  Je  voudrai 
ne  forcer  en  rien  les  tons"  {ibid.,  IV,  29).  He  criticizes  M.  Walckenaer  severely  for 
his  infideliti  de  ton  in  criticism  {ibid.,  VI,  171). 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  398.  ^  Nouveaux  lundis,  XI,  11. 

<  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  201.  ?  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  215. 

i  Ibid.,  X,  72.  ^Ibid.,Vll,  75. 


PRECEPTS  AND  ''PROCEDSS"  99 

particularly  spicy  bit.  The  advantages  of  the  practice  of  quoting, 
however,  far  outweigh  the  dangers  and  mistakes  such  as  he  points  out. 
If  we  could  hope  to  sum  up  a  matter  necessarily  so  disjointed  and 
heterogeneous,  the  following  passage  of  Sainte-Beuve's  own  would  serve 
as  such  a  summary  of  his  Precepts  et  Procedes: 

L'esprit  dans  lequel  le  livre  est  concu  est  un  bon  esprit;  j'appelle  ainsi 
celui  qui  consiste  a  ne  pas  arriver  sur  le  sujet  avec  une  prevention  et  un  systeme, 
a  se  penetrer  de  l'esprit  meme  de  I'epoque  qui  est  en  cause,  a  recueillir  tous  les     / 
temoignages,  a  s'eclairer  de  toutes  les  depositions,  et  a  nous  rendre  avec     \ 
gravite,  avec  bon  sens  et  mod6ration,  le  resultat  de  cette  enquete  si  delicate  et 
si  compliquee.^ 

A  study  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  vocabulary  opens  up  to  view  a 
most  profitable  and  tempting  field.  A  lexicon  of  the  important  critical 
terms  he  most  frequently  uses,  together  with  sufficient  quotation  to 
illuminate  them  from  their  contexts — such  terms  as  reahty,  beauty, 
harmony,  tone,  vrai,  verite,  vraisemblance,  nettete,  and  others — ^would 
clarify  and  render  stable  words  whose  exact  content  or  connotation  in 
many  passages  is  vague  and  inconstant.  It  would  throw  valuable  light 
on  both  the  logic  and  the  art  of  his  critical  processes.  But  so  long  and 
important  a  piece  of  work  could  not  be  undertaken  within  the  scope  of 
this  dissertation.  Three  of  his  terms,  however,  demand  consideration: 
the  differentiations  he  made  when  he  adopted  and  defined  the  terms 
"Attic,"  "Asiatic,"  and  "urbane"  are  so  central  in  his  thinking  and  so 
operative  in  his  work  that  we  cannot  in  justice  neglect  to  present  them 
here.  The  discussion  finds  its  best  beginning  in  this  statement:  "Le 
genre  attique  est  surtout  I'oppose  de  Fasiatique,  I'urbanite  est  surtout 
le  contraire  de  la  rusticite."^  The  minghng  of  Atticism,  the  Hellenic 
quaUty  of  beauty  and  harmony,  with  urbanity,  the  Roman  quality 
of  common  sense  and  moderation,  produces  the  characteristic  and  ideal 
French  quality: 

Mais  I'atticisme,  mais  Turbanite,  mais  le  principe  de  sens  et  de  raison  qui 
s'y  m61e  a  la  grace,  ne  nous  en  separons  pas.  Le  sentiment  d'un  certain  beau 
conforme  a  notre  race,  a  notre  education,  a  notre  civilisation,  voila  ce  dont  11 
ne  faut  jamais  se  departir.3 

It  is  "Atticism"  that  he  commends  in  Pascal  so  often  and  so  highly; 
he  praises  it  in  Hamilton,  calUng  him  "  un  des  ecrivains  les  plus  attiques 

^  Ibid.,  XV,  339.  '  CahierSf  p.  172;  cf.  also  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  404. 

3  Ibid.,  XV,  362.  He  gives  a  short  history  of  "Atticism"  in  France,  ibid., 
XII,  481. 


/" 


icx)    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

de  notre  litterature."^  In  Greek,  Lysias  and  Xenophon  are  for  excel- 
lence the  exponents  of  the  "Attic"  style;  "en  franjais  Mme  de  Caylus, 
Mme  de  La  Fayette  sont  des  modeles  d'atticisme."^  "L'atticisme, 
chez  un  peuple,  et  au  moment  heureux  de  sa  litterature,  est  une  qualite 
legere  qui  ne  tient  pas  moins  k  ceux  qui  la  sen  tent  qu'k  celui  qui  ecrit.*'^ 
In  the  following  passage  he  again  indicates  the  component  elements  of 
the  tradition  he  loved: 

Terence  est  le  lien  entre  Furbanite  romaine  et  Tatticisme  des  Grecs.  Qui 
dit  urbaniti,  dit  politesse,  elegance,  un  bon  gotit  dans  le  badinage,  de  I'enjoue- 
ment  plus  qu'un  rire  ouvert  et  deploye.  Qui  dit  attiques  a  propreitient  parler, 
entend  des  ecrivains  nus,  sobres,  chastes  de  diction  (comme  Lysias  ou  Xeno- 
phon) qui  n'appuient  pas,  ...  qui  ne  scintillent  pas.  lis  rappellent  et  reflechis- 
sent  dans  leurs  ecrits  cette  plaine  de  I'Attique,  d'une  maigreur  elegante  et 
fine,  d'un  ciel  transparent.  Quels  sont  les  ecrivains  attiques  en  frangais  dont 
nous  puissions  comparer  sans  trop  de  contresens  la  diction  a  celle  de  Terence  ? 
II  en  est  tres-peu.  Mme  de  Lafayette,  Fenelon,  Mme  de  Caylus,  en  sont 
certainement;  Le  Sage  aussi  pour  Gil  Bias,  et  Abb6  Prevost  pour  Manon 
Lescaut.  Au  XVIII"^®  siecle,  la  race  des  attiques  se  perd;  Voltaire  est,  quand 
il  le  veut,  le  modele  de  I'urbanite;  mais  I'atticisme  leger  ...  cette  esquise 
simplicite  n'a  plus  sa  place.-* 

It  was  the  writers  who  were  not  indigenous — Rousseau,  Bernardin 
de  Sainte-Pierre,  and  later  Chateaubriand — who  chiefly  contributed 
to  the  eclipse  of  Atticism  in  France.s  "L'atticisme  est  proprement 
Toppose  du  genre  asiatique  trop  surcharge  d'ornements."^  Asiaticism 
is  the  new,  superabundant,  flamboyant,  over-decorated  style  which  he 
finds  in  Rousseau,  in  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  in  Chateaubriand,  the 
style  of  Lamartine  in  the  Girondins  which  Sainte-Beuve  specifically 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  95.  '  Ibid.,  XI,  520. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  521.  He  speaks  of  Thiers  as  being  really  French  in  so  far  as  his  style 
is  Attic  {ibid.,  XV,  89).  He  speaks  of  the  "Atticism"  of  Maucroix  (ibid.,  X,  232). 
"Atticism"  is  a  term  which  is  much  abused  by  critics  who  are  likely  to  misapply  it 
(ibid.,  XI,  520).  He  defines  it  thus  elsewhere:  "L'atticisme,  c'est  k  dire  le  pur 
langage  naturel  franjais,  repos6,  coulant  de  source,  et  jaillissant  des  l^vres  avant 
toute  coloration  factice,"  etc.  (ibid.,  XII,  485),  and  he  laments  the  fact  that  in  his 
own  day  this  great  quality  was  dying  out. 

4  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  366.  He  gives  a  history  of  the  word  urbaniU  and  adds 
some  items  later  (ibid.,  VI,  375).  F16chier  among  others  "a  6minemment  I'urbanite 
qui  est  le  contraire  de  la  rusticity"  (Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  405). 

s  Pascal  is  the  "moins  asiatique  des  6crivains"  and  the  one  whom  we  must  read 
as  an  antidote  to  this  Asiatic  style  which  Rousseau  and  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre 
introduced  (Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  441). 

«/Wd.,XV,  404. 


PRECEPTS  AND  "PROCJ^DilS"  loi 

calls  "la  maniere,  abondante,  excessive  asiatique."^  It  is  the  style  of 
Balzac,  the  atmosphere  from  which  the  later  Sainte-Beuve  withdrew 
to  ever  remoter  distance.  And  it  is  the  Attic  which  he  increasingly 
identified  as  the  truly  and  characteristically  French  style.^ 

We  know  that  Sainte-Beuve  was  interested  in  a  book  as  a  definite 
and  detachable  entity,  that  his  humanistic  instincts  were  quite  as  strong 
and  as  operative  as  his  naturalistic  convictions,  and  that  they  flowered 
in  his  mind  in  an  intense  interest  in  the  aesthetic  side  of  the  arts.  He 
himself,  as  we  have  seen,  constantly  recurred  to  the  statement  that 
criticism  must  always  remain  an  art,  and  must  therefore,  in  his  logic, 
always  stay  in  the  humanistic  tradition. 

This  is  the  place  then  to  state  very  briefly  his  ideas  on  literature — 
its  purpose,  function,  and  forms,  including  both  genres  and  style. 
Harper  makes  a  somewhat  ill-balanced  statement  as  to  Sainte-Beuve  when 
he  says:  "He  had  comparatively  little  to  say  about  literature  as  an  art, 
about  its  forms  and  laws  and  its  evolution;  literature  was  in  his  eyes 
an  infinitely  diverse  expression  of  personality,  and  personality  was  the 
substance  of  which  Hterature  was  the  shadow."^  This  statement  would 
be  acceptable  if  we  may  qualify  the  implication  that  he  was  not  inter- 
ested in  literature  on  the  side  of  form.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  fre- 
quently find  Sainte-Beuve  basing  his  main  judgment  of  a  work  on  the 
tradition  of  literary  form,  or  of  hterary  style  created  and  dictated  by 
good  usage. 

As  aesthetician  he  was  very  cathoUc  and  inclusive  in  his  classifica- 
tion— he  seemed  willing  to  rank  as  literature  practically  any  written 
expression  of  thought  or  feeling.  He  was  still  more  catholic  as  a  critic, 
handling  with  equally  scrupulous  care  all  books  that  interested  him. 
Science,  art,  poetry,  history,  travel,  eloquence;,  criticism — all  were 
grist  to  his  critical  mill.  If  he  attempted  to  limit  more  narrowly  the 
bounds  of  literature  it  was  in  these  two  directions:  literature  is  an 
expression  de  soi,  and  its  invariable  aim  and  function  are  to  give  aesthetic 
pleasure.  Here,  as  we  have  seen  him  do  in  other  matters,  Sainte-Beuve 
shows  some  confusion  of  thought,  heralding  the  deep  uncertainty  of  our 
own  day  concerning  the  definitions  of  genre  and  forms.  In  the  actual 
critical  essays  he  seemed  to  regard  as  Hterary  anything  that  was  written, 
yet  in  his  theorizing  he  had  a  rather  definite  formula  for  literature: 

Revenons  aux  choses  simplement  agreables  et  indifferentes,  a  ce  qui  est  du 
ressort  de  la  pure  litterature.  L 'esprit  litteraire,  dans  sa  vivacite  et  sa  grace, 
consiste  a  savoir  s'interesser  a  ce  qui  plait  dans  une  delicate  lecture,  a  ce  qui 

^  Ibid.,  II,  449.  2  jffid.,  VI,  441.  3  Harper,  op.  cit.,  p.  74. 


I02     SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

est  d'ailleurs  inutile  en  soi  et  qui  ne  sert  a  rien  dans  le  sens  vulgaire;  a  ce  qui 
ne  passionne  pas  pour  un  but  prochain  et  positif ;  a  ce  qui  n'est  que  Toraement, 
la  fleur,  la  superfluite  immortelle  et  legere  de  la  societe  et  de  la  vie.* 

As  soon,  he  says,  as  one  attempts  to  force  literature  to  serve  some  utili- 
tarian end,  *'c'est  couper  les  ailes  a  la  fantaisie  et  au  grand  art  que  ne 
relive  que  de  lui-meme."^ 

Literature,  though  as  an  art  it  has  no  avowed  purpose  and  no  aim 
other  than  artistic  pleasure,  does  nevertheless  produce  a  result,  the  culti- 
vation of  the  spirit;  **voyez-vous,  la  plus  grande  gloire  des  poetes  morts 
ou  absents  consiste  en  ce  que  les  vivants  heureux  et  presents  les  lisent 
pour  en  faire  un  accompagnement  et  un  pretexte  a  leurs  pensees:  le 
piano  au  fond  pendant  lequel  on  cause."^  And  this  is  not  entirely 
inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  he  feels  that  the  function  of  a  whole 
school  or  type  of  poetry  is  that  of  a  promenade  buissonniere  on  a  spring 
morning;  for  the  experiencing  of  ideal  pleasures,  of  genuinely  artistic 
satisfaction,  is  in  itself  an  elevation  of  the  spirit  and  a  refinement  of  the 
sensibihties.  "Ne  pas  avoir  le  sentiment  des  lettres,  cela  veut  dire  ne 
pas  avoir  le  sentiment  de  la  vertu,  de  la  gloire,  de  la  grace,  de  la  beaute, 
en  un  mot  de  tout  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  veritablement  divin  sur  le  terre."* 
Must  we  not  necessarily  infer  that  if  the  lack  of  appreciation  of  literature 
so  dwarfs  one's  spirit,  the  possession  of  that  sentiment  des  lettres  forwards 
one  in  the  acquisition  of  the  desirable  virtues  enumerated?  The 
service  of  literature  in  the  life  of  a  nation,  too,  he  profoundly  believes 
in.s  His  faith  in  the  social  and  spiritual  services  of  literary  criticism 
we  have  studied  elsewhere  in  some  detail;  and  Sainte-Beuve  in  many 
passages  cordially  classifies  criticism  as  a  type  of  literature — this  though 
he  may  shift  his  focus,  and  change  his  atmosphere  in  other  passages  and 
look  coldly  upon  criticism  as  a  type  of  philosophy  or  as  some  kind  of 
purely  technical  writing. 

His  protests,  as  we  have  shown  elsewhere,^  against  "tendency"  in 
literature  are  not  directed  against  the  ideal  and  spiritual  meaning  that 
underlies  all  art,  but  against  the  purely  utilitarian  in  art.  Polemic 
is  peculiarly  dangerous,  he  thinks,  essentially  treacherous.  The  doc- 
trinaire artist  will  inevitably,  in  the  excess  of  his  zeal,  under  pressure  of 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  24.  ^Ihid.,  I,  205.  3  Cahiers,  p.  10. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  188.  He  describes  the  salutary  moral  and  psychological  effects  of 
love  for  MoliSre  in  almost  extravagant  terms:  "C'est  avoir  en  soi  une  garantie  contra 
bien  des  d^fauts,  bien  des  travers  et  des  vices  d'  esprit,"  while  Comeille,  Racine,  and 
Boileau  each  has  his  special  medicinal  virtue  (Nauveaux  lundis,  V,  277  ff.). 

s  Causer ies  du  lundi,  VII,  323.       ^  Cf.  supra,  pp.  64  ff. 


PRECEPTS  AND  ''PROCJ^D^^S"  103 

his  conviction,  allow  falsehood  to  creep  in — the  serpent  which  leaves  as 
his  slimy  trail  charlatanism  and  quackery,  which,  says  Sainte-Beuve, 
contaminate  all  orders  of  thought:  "Oui,  mais  dans  I'ordre  de  la  pens6e, 
dans  Tart,  c'est  la  gloire  et  I'eternel  honneur  que  le  charlatanisme  n*y 
penetre  pas,  c'est  ce  qui  fait  Tinviolabilite  de  cette  noble  partie  de 
rhomme."^ 

It  is  rather  surprising  that  he  had  Uttle  to  say  about  the  genres  of       \ 
literature  as  genres,  and  the  Uttle  he  did  say  is  astonishingly  unimportant.        \ 
It  is  probable  that  his  early  experience  as  a  romanticist  had  convinced 
him  of  the  artificiahty  and  unreality  of  the  laws  of  genre  as  codified  by 
the  formaUsts  of  his  day.    He  who  had  forwarded  and  shared  the  revolt . 
against  the  pseudo-classics,  who  had  been  a  co-worker  with   Hugo, 
De  Musset,  and  Gautier,  was  not  himself  to  be  caught  in  the  machinery 
of  the  old  complex  distinctions.    And  we  have  to  remind  ourselves  that 
the  modern  critical  psychology  of  species  in  literature  had  not  appeared. 

He  has  more  and  more  definite  things  to  say  about  the  roman  than 
about  any  of  the  other  genres.^    He  has  scattered  utterances  on  various"~^ 
kinds  of  prose  and  on  the  forms  and  types  of  lyric  verse,  but  none  oi/ 
them  are  of  the  highest  importance,  and  there  are  not  enough  of  them^ 
to  enable  us  to  estabUsh  a  body  of  definitions  or  discriminations.^    As  \ 
Faguet  has  pointed  out,^  it  is  astonishing    that  Sainte-Beuve  should--'^ 
have  taken  so  little  interest  in  a  critical  way  in  the  drama.     Sainte- 
Beuve  himself  asserts  that  the  French  genius  is  essentially  dramatic, 
and  there  seems  to  have  been  in  his  nature  something  un-GaUic  that 

'  Cahiers,  p.  51. 

"  "  Je  me  garderai  bien,  pour  commencer,  de  donner  ni  m6me  d'avoir  par-devers 
moi  une  th^orie  du  roman.  Le  grand  avantage  du  roman  est  precisement  d'avoir 
6chapp6  jusqu'ici  k  toute  theorie.  ...  Gr^ce  a  cette  libert6  d'allure  qu'il  a  eue  k  toutes 
les  6poques,  et  qu'on  lui  a  conc6d6e  en  tant  que  genre  sans  consequence,  le  roman  a 
prosp6r6,  fleuri,  fructifie,  et  il  s'est  vu  capable,  presque  des  sa  naissance,  de  prendre 
toutes  les  formes,  sentimentale,  pastorale,  po6tique,  chevaleresque,  historique,  ironique, 
satirique,  all6gorique,  descriptive,  morale,  passionn6e.  La  forme  philosophique  et 
raisonneuse  est  aussi  I'une  des  siennes,  et  je  ne  saurais  la  proscire.  La  nouvelle  Heloise 
et  Delphine  sont  des  branches  legitimes  du  roman.  Un  peu  de  pr^cherie  n'y  messied 
pas,  c'est  accord6:  il  ne  s'agit  que  d'y  observer  le  goiit,  la  vraisemblance,  la  raison, 
d'y  entretenir  I'interSt,  de  n'y  pas  introduire  I'ennui.  En  un  mot  j'admets  tous  les 
genres  en  fait  de  roman,  et  je  ne  m'inquiete  que  de  la  maniere  dont  ils  sont  trait6s" 
(Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  25). 

3  On  MSmoires  cf.  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  443,  446;  XV,  47.  On  Lettres,  ibid., 
VIII,  no.  On  the  Epigramme  cf.  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  8.  On  the  forms  of  lyric 
poetry  cf.  the  articles  on  poetic  subjects. 

*  Faguet,  Sainte-Beuve,  critique  dramatique,  p.  69. 


I04    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

would  account  for  his  indifference  to  the  drama.  The  only  considerable 
passage  of  dramatic  criticism  in  this  his  later  period  is  the  series  of  essays 
on  Le  Cid  of  Corneille;  and  even  here  he  is  more  concerned  with  the  play 
as  a  manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  its  times  and  as  a  document  in  literary 
history  than  as  a  play.  There  occurs,  however,  some  little  discussion 
of  essential  principles  of  dramatic  form,  in  particular  of  the  unities.' 

Sainte-Beuve  was  truly  the  French  critic  in  his  paramount  interest 
in  matters  of  style,  and  his  discussions  of  purely  literary  technique 
are  mainly  devoted  to  it.  Many  of  his  judgments  of  men  and  books 
take  style  as  their  sole  basis.  His  own  style  was  eminently  plastic  and 
adaptable,  and  in  this  respect  meets  the  requirement  he  set  up  for  a  good 
style  for  the  critic,  which,  he  said,  should  vary  with  the  necessities  of  his 
work,  taking  on  atmosphere  and  tone  from  the  material  he  is  handling. 
So  Sainte-Beuve's  own  sensitive  style  becomes  ancient  when  handling 
ancient  matter;  imaginative  and  metaphorical  when  the  themes  are 
poetry;  classic  or  Romantic,  realistic  or  idealistic,  austere  or  full  of  the 
joy  of  life  by  turns;  his  sense  of  style,  his  "taste"  was  so  keen  as  to 
enable  him  to  detect  and  to  assume  at  will  the  peculiar  flavor  of  an 
author.'  The  appreciation  of  a  fine  style  is,  he  says,  peculiarly  a  French 
endowment,  as  is  also  what  may  be  called  a  national  pride  in  excellent 
writing.3 

In  Volume  I  of  the  Causeries  du  lundi  he  gives  a  brief  history  of 
French  style,  asserting  that  the  great  classical  period  was  the  epoch  par 
excellence  of  fine  writing,  setting  the  standard  by  which  we  must  always 
measure  ourselves.  Even  the  uneducated  dames  de  cour  of  that  brilliant 
age  could  write  beautifully,  because  they  possessed  the  two  essential 
qualities  of  French  style,  simpUcity  and  nettetS.  It  was  Rousseau  and 
the  romanticists  following  him  who  introduced  into  their  work  eloquence 
and  declamation,  marring  its  purity,  destroying  its  certainty .^  Sainte- 
Beuve  felt  that  in  his  own  day  the  art  of  writing  was  languishing,  if  not 
perishing;  "il  y  a  dans  I'ouvrage  de  Barthelemy  une  qualite  a  laquelle 
on  est  trop  peu  sensible  a  present,  il  y  a  de  la  composition  et  de  la  liaison. "s 
Written  style,  he  says,  is  nowadays  giving  place  to  spoken  style,  and  the 
art  of  writing  is  dying  out;   in  this  generation  anybody  thinks  he  can 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  258,  where  he  discusses  the  unities;  cf.  also  ibid.,  p.  285. 
'  Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  210. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  393. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  92.  » Ibid.,  VII,  209. 


PRECEPTS  AND  "PROCSDJSS''  105 

write,  and  all  sorts  of  persons  are  bursting  into  print — persons  with  no 
training  who  are  consequently  capable  of  nothing  other  than  a  slipshod 
style.^ 

Sainte-Beuve  is  the  advocate  of  the  golden  mean.  He  complains 
of  a  style  that  is  merely  slipshod,  though  he  recognizes  that  too  formal 
a  manner  leads  to  affectation.  *'I1  faut  ecrire  comme  on  parle,  et  ne 
pas  trop  parler  comme  on  ecrit,"^  is  his  apparently  paradoxical  counsel. 
It  is  easier,  he  says,  for  a  Frenchman  to  speak  well  than  to  write  well; 
"de  la  parole  vive  au  papier  il  s'est  fait  bien  des  nauf rages.  "^  He  says 
of  the  spoken  or  written  style:  "La  parole  est  une  faculte  qui,  a  toutes 
les  epoques,  et  dans  un  degre  eminent,  est  donnee  naturellement  a 
quelques-uns;  c'est  entre  la  parole  parlee  et  cette  meme  parole  ecrite 
que  la  plus  grande  difference  a  lieu,  et  qu'il  se  fait  un  naufrage  de  bien 
des  pensees."4  The  author's  written  style  should  partake  of  the  live- 
liness and  freshness  of  speech,  while  at  the  same  time  it  should  exhibit 
that  harmony,  organization,  clearness,  and  nettetS  that  come  only  from 
training  and  the  taking  of  pains.  One  must  have  done  one's  rhetoric, 
he  says  of  Delecluze, 

cependant,  il  y  aura,  en  litterature,  une  chose  bien  essentielle  qu'on  ne  lui 
aura  pas  apprise  et  qu'il  ne  saura  jamais;  c'est  I'art  d'ecrire.  II  n'a  jamais 
fait  de  rhetorique ;  on  s'en  apergoit  en  le  lisant.  Ne  pas  avoir  fait  de  rhetorique 
dans  le  sens  ou  je  I'entends  ici,  c'est  ne  pas  se  douter  des  difficultes  de  I'art.s 

Training  and  experience  must  finally  equip  one  for  that  marshaling 
of  ideas  into  order  which  constitutes  the  foundation  of  good  writing, 
for  style  after  all  is  but  the  manner  of  presenting  material: 

Assembler,  soutenir  et  mettre  en  jeu  a  la  fois  dans  un  instant  donne  le 
plus  de  rapports,  agir  en  masse  et  avec  concert,  c'est  la  le  difficile  et  le  grand  art, 
qu'on  soit  general  d'armee,  orateur  ou  ecrivain.  II  y  a  des  generaux  qui  ne 
peuvent  assembler  et  manoeuvrer  plus  de  dix  mille  hommes,  et  des  ecrivains 
qui  ne  peuvent  manier  qu'une  ou  tout  au  plus  deux  idees  a  la  fois.  ...  Je  con- 
nais  ainsi  des  ecrivains  qui,  avant  d'ecrire,  congedient  la  moitie  de  leurs  idees,  et 
qui  ne  savent  les  exprimer  qu'une  a  une: — c'est  pauvre.'* 

Nevertheless,  Sainte-Beuve,  lest  he  should  have  made  too  strong  a  case 
for  the  disciplined  style,  warns  us  against  mere  virtuosity  in  writing. 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  63.  ^  Ihid.,  IX,  385. 

"  Cahiers,  p.  121.  s  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  82. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  352.  ^  Portraits  litteraires,  III,  547. 


io6    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

The  author  who  has  acquired  a  conscious  facility  must  resist  the  tempta- 
tion to  write  for  the  sake  of  writing: 

Toujours  le  style  te  dSmange.  ...  Rien  de  plus  juste;  ce  malheureux  go(it  de 
style  et  d'art  est  comme  une  gale  qui  s'attache  a  vous  et  glte  toute  votre  vie. 
Elle  vous  empeche  d'etre  politique.  ...  Au  moment  ou  vous  commencez  a 
r^tre  voila  le  style  qui  vous  dSmange;  plus  de  laisser-aller,  plus  de  joie.  II  vous 
faut  rentrer  dans  votre  bouge,  polir  votre  mot,  trouver  votre  rime,  vous  taper 
le  front  et  vous  ronger  les  ongles.^ 

When  one  has  acquired  a  taste  and  a  technique  like  this  he  must  beware 
lest  he  pass  from  virtuosity  into  preciosity — in  a  word,  Sainte-Beuve's 
severest  word,  into  neo-classicism.  He  especially  decried  the  artificiaUty 
of  laborious  elegance:  'Telegance!  quand  I'elegance  n'atteint  pas  la 
grace  ce  n'est  rien  du  tout."*    He  quotes  from  Mme  de  Girardin, 

qui  a  fait,  dans  Napoline,  un  vers  qui  la  trahit:  "Ah!  c'est  que  Telegance  est 
de  la  poesie."  Certes,  je  ne  voudrais  pas  exclure  de  la  poesie  Telegance,  mais 
quand  je  vois  celle-ci  mise  en  premiere  ligne,  j'ai  toujours  peur  que  la  fafon, 
le  fashion,  ne  prime  la  nature,  et  que  Tenveloppe  n'emporte  le  fond.^ 

Sainte-Beuve's  advice  as  to  the  practical  way  of  avoiding  the  grievous 
faults  of  the  artificial  style  is  twofold.  In  the  first  place  the  writer  should 
embody  in  his  written  style  the  vigor  and  freshness  of  his  spoken  style; 
in  the  second  place  he  should  maintain  and  conserve  his  individuality, 
refusing  in  spite  of  the  severest  discipline  to  become  standardized.  The 
style  of  Cousin,  he  says,  admirable  as  it  is  in  many  ways,  is  lacking  in 
this  essential  feature:  "Rien  n'y  marque  I'homme.  ...  J'aime  que  le 
style  se  ressente  davantage  des  quaUtes  originales  et  piquantes  de  Tindi- 
vidu,  en  un  mot  qu'il  sente  Vhomme.^^^  Unless  his  style  be,  in  the  words 
of  Buffon,  "de  I'homme  meme"  the  writer  falls  into  abstraction,  into 
formless  generalities.  As  a  pendant  to  this  advocacy  of  individuality 
he  deplores  imitation.  "J'aime  qu'il  en  soit  de  la  langue,  du  style  de 
tout  grand  ecrivain,  comme  du  cheval  de  tout  grand  capitaine:  que 
nul  ne  le  monte  apres  lui."s  The  very  truest  mark  of  a  great  writer  is 
that  he  achieves  a  style  which  is  the  indissoluble  and  inimitable  union 
of  his  manner  of  thinking  and  his  manner  of  writing.  This  is,  indeed, 
what  makes  him  a  great  writer.    It  is  the  style  of  Pascal  that  is  his 

^  Portraits  contemporains,  V,  459. 

'  Cahiers,  p.  59.  4  Ibid.,  XI,  469. 

» Causeries  du  lundi.  III,  393.  s  Portraits  contemporains,  V,  456. 


PRECEPTS  AND  '' PROC^DtlS''  107 

ideal — rapid,  direct,  clear,  brilliant,  the  perfect  vehicle  of  the   keen, 
incisive,  powerful  thought  which  it  conveys.^ 

Sainte-Beuve  practically  never  fails  to  discuss  the  style  of  the  artist 
whom  he  has  under  consideration — ^appraising,  condemning,  commend- 
ing; and  always  looming  large  in  the  background,  implicit  or  explicit,  as 
standard  and  criterion,  stands  the  style  of  Pascal  and  the  other  great 
classicists. 

^  "  Je  vais  droit  au  d^faut  capital  et  radical  du  talent  61ev6  de  M.  de  Bonald.  ... 
M.  de  Bonald  nous  fait  repasser  par  la  filidre  des  mots  et  par  la  m^canique  du  language 
de  Condillac,  ...  pour  revenir  au  monde  des  idees  et  au  ciel  m6taphysique  de 
M.  Malebranche  "  {Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  435).  In  other  words  Bonald 's  style  and 
manner  are  not  his  own. 


J 


VII.     SAINTE-BEUVE'S  PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM 

The  program  of  Sainte-Beuve*s  criticizing,  put  together  in  a  previous 
section  of  this  thesis,  is  a  synthetic  one,  the  items  collected  from  various 
places  wherein  he  discusses  his  art.  All  its  items  are  those  that  he  has 
in  one  place  or  another  definitely  and  strongly  propounded.  Most  of 
it,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  given  in  the  formula  for  criticizing  in  the 
famous  Chateaubriand  article.^ 

But  it  cannot  be  expected  that  examination  of  the  essays  in  order 
will  show  him  following  this  program  closely  or  even  making  use  of  all 
its  details  in  any  one  essay.  It  is  indeed  safe  to  say  that  there  is  no  essay 
in  which  he  uses  the  whole  program,  and  certain  it  is  that  he  does  not 
in  any  essay  take  up  the  processes  in  the  beautifully  logical  order  in 
which  they  are  formulated.  He  does  make  use  of  them  all,  in  this 
essay  emphasizing  one,  in  that  essay  another.  He  even  introduces 
processes  not  provided  for  in  the  program,  some  of  them  unique,  some 
of  them  too  whimsical  and  personal  to  be  catalogued.  He  must  have 
realized  that  his  critical  program  was  a  rationalized,  logically  con- 
structed edifice  rather  than  a  procedure  worked  out  through  actual 
trial  and  error.  In  the  actual  essays  he  proceeded  in  his  approaches, 
expositions,  and  judgments  as  an  orderly  scientific  critic,  though  some- 
times with  methods  and  points  of  view  impossible  to  standardize  or 
even  repeat. 

Our  work  here  is  to  determine  from  his  exact  statements  whether 
or  not  he  was  conscious  of  a  definite  method  of  procedure  and  whether 
and  to  what  extent  he  followed  the  logical  plan  we  have  gathered  from 
his  statement. 

Two  investigations  are  necessary  before  we  can  reach  this  deter- 
mination: We  must  examine  the-  content  of  the  essays  to  determine 
those  matters  that  Sainte-Beuve  handles  most  often  and  emphasizes 
most,  and  we  must  examine  the  structure  of  all  the  essays  for  the  presence 
and  use  of  his  critical  formula.  The  first  investigation  will  tell  us 
within  certain  limits  what  kind  of  a  critic  Sainte-Beuve  was  in  practice, 
scientific,  historical,  or  aesthetic,  and  the  second  will  show  us  whether 
or  not,  and  under  what  conditions,  he  found  his  program  workable. 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  i. ' 

io8 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  109 

In  pursuance  of  the  former  study  all  the  essays  of  the  Causeries 
and  the  Nouveaux  lundis  were  examined.  For  this  classification  the 
following  categories  were  used: 

1.  Biographical  matter 

a)  The  events  of  the  life  of  his  subject 

h)  Analysis  and  interpretation  of  character 

2.  Historical  matter 

a)  Political  history,  politics,  war,  diplomacy,  social  movements 
h)  Ettcdes  de  moRurs 

3.  Literary  matter 

a)  Exposition,  the  expounding  of  his  documents  with  the  unavoidable 
discussion  of  the  ideas  and  doctrines  found  in  them 

h)  Literary  history,  tracing  the  development  of  a  genre,  recmrring  appear- 
ance of  phenomena,  the  characteristic  evolution  of  an  author,  a  strain 
.  of  influence 

c)  Critical  judgment  and  evaluation,  the  term  "critical"  being  here  used 
as  designating  opinion  and  suggestion  as  to  the  merits  and  defects  of  the 
work  he  is  handUng 

d)  Polemic  matter,  argument  in  which  Sainte-Beuve  is  taking  sides  on  a 
moot  question  and  trying  to  bring  the  reader  to  his  point  of  view 

e)  Philosophic  matter,  including  aesthetics,  in  which  he  is  expounding  and 
applying  theories  concerning  art,  history,  politics,  or  criticism  itself 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  the  delimitation  of  these  categories 
is  not  scientifically  exact  or  that  the  classes  indicated  by  them  are  neither 
exhaustive  nor  mutually  exclusive;  there  is  much  overlapping  and  inter- 
penetration  of  the  subject-matter.  The  material  offered  by  the  essays 
and  the  nature  of  the  categories  themselves  preclude  a  hard-and-fast 
scientific  classification;  and  the  fact  that  the  essays  are  literary  pre- 
cludes their  being  handled  as  mere  science.  But  this  tentative  and  sug- 
gestive grouping  of  the  essays  does  reveal  the  fines  of  Sainte-Beuve's 
main  interests. 

In  the  two  series  there  are  some  six  hundred  and  forty  essays.  There 
are  certain  groups  which  form  series,  occasionally  as  many  as  five  on  the 
same  subject,  as  witness  the  five  each  on  Talleyrand,  Mme  Desbordes- 
Vahnore,  and  Le  Marechal  de  Villars;  four  on  Horace  Vernet;  and  many 
groups  of  three.  There  are,  roughly  speaking,  four  hundred  and  thirty 
subjects  treated. 

The  examination  of  these  six  hundred  and  forty  essays  yields  the 
following  summaries:  Biographical  matter  predominates  in  one  hundred 
and  ninety,  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  placing  the  main  emphasis 


no    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

of  the  essay  on  the  events  of  the  subject's  life,  and  fifty-six  placing  it 
on  character  analysis  and  interpretation.  This  biographical  group 
constitutes,  as  may  be  seen,  60  per  cent  of  the  essays,  a  finding  that  sup- 
ports the  statement  that  Sainte-Beuve  gives  a  major  place  to  biography. 

Historical  matter  in  the  two  varieties  provided  for  receives  the  main 
emphasis  in  seventy-five  essays.  Of  these  thirty  are  concerned  with 
pohtical  history,  forty-five  are  studies  of  manners.  Bald  figures  are, 
however,  pecuHarly  deceptive  in  this  class,  since  Sainte-Beuve  was 
constantly  introducing  into  his  essays  cursory  and,  as  it  were,  casual 
historical  matter  of  various  kinds,  so  that  the  number  of  essays  in  which 
it  holds  first  place  understates  his  interest  in  history.  We  have  to 
remind  ourselves  of  the  large  number  in  which  it  holds  second  place 
and  the  other  large  number  in  which  it  is  in  the  background  of  his  think- 
ing. In  regard  to  the  forty-five  essays  in  which  studies  of  manners 
occupy  the  foreground,  we  must  bring  to  mind  the  fact  that  Sainte- 
Beuve  was  deeply  and  unfaiUngly  human;  he  had  a  keen  and  restless 
curiosity  about  life  and  the  behavior  of  human  beings  in  all  ages  and 
places;  he  delighted  to  delve  into  the  past,  to  find  anecdotes,  quaint 
usages,  forgotten  manners.  Nothing  that  served  to  throw  light  or 
interest  on  the  development  of  mankind  or  on  the  growth  of  the  mind 
was  trivial  to  him  or  outside  his  province.  We  find  a  rich  record  and  a 
sympathetic  study  of  customs,  habits,  humors,  oddities — this  is  the 
nature  of  the  material  to  be  found  in  these  6tudes  de  moeurs.  It  occupies 
a  major  place  in  forty-five  of  the  essays,  holds  second  place  in  others, 
and  occurs  in  fragments  and  scattered  passages  in  many  places.  Such 
matter  is,  of  course,  extremely  serviceable  in  placing  a  man  in  his  set- 
ting, dans  son  cadre,  a  service  which  Sainte-Beuve  deUghted  to  perform 
and  which  he  considered  essential.^ 

Literary  matter  occupies  the  main  place  and  receives  the  main 
emphasis  in  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  essays.  The  reiteration  of  the 
previous  warning  seems  necessary  here;  the  mere  figures  are  a  bit  mis- 
leading because  whatever  other  kind  of  matter  he  is  using  Sainte-Beuve 
is  always  literary  in  method  and  style,  and  in  many  cases  matter  is 
handled  by  way  of  leading  up  to  a  hterary  judgment  or  defending  such 
a  judgment,  which,  though  it  be  the  very  core  of  the  essay,  may  occupy 
a  small  space. 

The  four  varieties  of  literary  matter  provided  for  in  the  scheme 
occur  in  the  following  proportions:  exposition  is  conspicuous  in  sixty 
essays;  literary  history,  in  thirty-five;  critical  discussion,  in  fifty-five. 

» See  "Aesthetic  Criticism,"  p.  46. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  III 

To  put  it  in  other  words,  of  the  hundred  and  fifty  essays  in  which  literary 
matter  predominates,  40  per  cent  is  chiefly  occupied  with  expounding 
and  interpreting  the  ideas  of  the  persons  under  discussion,  about  20  per 
cent  is  given  to  problems  of  literary  development,  and  40  per  cent  to  the 
expression  of  Sainte-Beuve's  own  critical  views,  chiefly  estimating  the 
actual  work  or  man  under  discussion. 

As  to  the  remaining  varieties  of  subject-matter,  the  aesthetic  and  the 
polemic,  only  a  few  essays  are  devoted  to  each.  Sainte-Beuve  is  not  much 
given  to  theorizing  formally  about  his  art.  He  is  prevailingly  empirical, 
content  with  functioning  directly  as  a  critic,  saying  very  little  about 
the  theoretical  or  speculative  bases  of  his  working  principles.  Indeed, 
in  view  of  his  enormous  erudition  and  the  infinite  trouble  he  took  to 
prepare  himself  for  the  writing  of  an  essay,  he  is  curiously  matter  of 
fact  and  practical-minded  in  all  his  processes.  He  has  said,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  great  deal  about  the  art  and  function  of  the  critic  and  criticism, 
but  sifted  down  it  proves  to  be  mainly  the  expounding  and  defining  of 
actual  working  principles.  And  even  this  body  of  critical  discussion 
looks  small  in  comparison  with  his  great  output  of  writing.  Among 
the  small  number  of  essays — less  than  a  dozen — in  which  the  aesthetic 
or  philosophical-critical  matter  predominates  must  be  mentioned  "De 
la  tradition  en  litterature,"^  the  article  on  Chateaubriand,^  which  con- 
tains most  of  the  items  of  his  critical  program,  and  the  article  on 
Deschanel's  Essai  de  critique  naturelle.^ 

So  far  as  concerns  matter  of  a  polemic  kind,  only  four  or  five  of  the 
essays  can  fairly  be  assembled  under  this  caption.  He  says  in  a  well- 
known  passage  cited  elsewhere  in  this  thesis  that  he  has  renounced 
polemic  criticism.  One  must,  however,  recognize  this  element  in  the 
essays  "sur  rorthographie,"^  "Les  lectures  publiques  du  soir,"s  and 
"La  question  des  theatres,"^  since  they  are  distinctly  framed  for  the 
purpose  of  convincing. 

Besides  the  groups  outlined  above  we  must  constitute  an  omnibus 
class  where  we  may  dispose  of  such  matter  as  the  political  theorizing 
of  "La  reforme  sociale  en  France, "7  the  exposition  of  the  Saint-Simonian 
theories  of  social  betterment  in  the  essay  on  Duveyrier.* 

One  of  the  deductions  to  be  drawn  from  this  classification  confirms 
the  common  judgment  given  of  Sainte-Beuve  that  he  was  interested 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  356.  s  Ibid.,  V,  70. 

2  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  i.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  35. 

3  Ibid.,  IX,  62.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  161. 

4  Ibid.,  VIII,  73.  8  Ibid.,  X,  237. 


112     SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

primarily  in  biography,  in  life-history  and  character;  in  the  individual 
rather  than  in  the  group,  and  in  the  group  large  or  small  only  for  the 
explanation  it  afforded  of  its  individuals.  But  to  this  conclusion  we 
must  add  a  pendant  not  always  stated  by  students  of  Sainte-Beuve: 
he  is  interested  in  whatever  embodies  and  expresses  the  characteristic 
personality  of  writers.  His  was  thus  pre-eminently  a  psychological 
rather  than  a  dramatic  sympathy. 

The  only  surprise  that  the  classification  might  offer  is  the  small 
amount  of  space  or  emphasis  given  in  the  essays  to  aesthetics  or  artistic 
theory.  What  discussion  there  is  of  these  matters  is  largely  scattered 
and  even  desultory.  When  all  is  said  it  is  clear  that  Sainte-Beuve  was 
the  practical  workman  in  criticism,  and  that  he  is  fundamentally  the 
historian  of  actual  literature,  of  current  human  behavior,  and  of  the 
minds  of  definite  men. 

The  second  investigation  we  must  undertake  is  designed  to  answer 
the  inquiry.  How  closely  did  Sainte-Beuve,  in  the  process  of  criticiz- 
ing, adhere  to  the  plan,  program,  or  series  of  rules  that  he  himself  laid 
down  ?  To  state  it  succinctly  and  colloquially,  did  he  practice  what  he 
preached  ? 

In  making  this  study  we  will  take  the  critical  program  already 
formulated  and  apply  it  to  the  essays  item  by  item.  Only  those  occur- 
rences of  his  use  of  a  specific  doctrine  which  show  a  conscious,  deliberate, 
and  emphatic  appHcation  of  it  will  be  quoted  or  cited;  those  cases  in 
which  the  item  receives  casual  and  incidental  attention  will  be  passed 
over  with  only  casual  and  general  notice.  For  example,  Sainte-Beuve 
rarely  fails  to  mention  the  birthplace  of  the  person  whose  biography  he 
is  giving.  But  in  many  cases  it  is  a  mere  bit  of  historical  routine,  given 
without  elaboration;  in  a  few  cases  Sainte-Beuve  beUeves  that  the  place 
in  which  a  man  is  born  and  passes  his  childhood  had  some  definite  or 
powerful  influence  on  his  development.  It  is  instances  of  the  second 
kind  that  will  be  quoted  or  cited. 

The  first  item  to  be  considered  is  that  of  race  and  racial  quaUties, 
in  Sainte-Beuve's  phrase  ''cette  racine  obscure  et  derob6e,"  sometimes 
very  difficult  to  discover.^  It  is  clear  that  by  "race "  he  generally  meant 
nationality,  for  he  Speaks  of  the  English  race,  the  French,  the  ItaUan, 
even  the  Breton  "race."  Indeed  it  is  not  in  Sainte-Beuve  but  in  Taine 
and  Renan  that  we  have  our  first  modern  scientific  studies  of  genuine 
racial  influence  in  Hterature. 

»  See  supra,  p.  33. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM 


113 


Representative  illustrations  of  Sainte-Beuve's  use  of  what  he  calls 
the  author's  race  are  the  following:  ''II  me  semble  que  tout  se  concilie 
chez  Duclos,  et  que  les  inconsequences  elles-m^mes  s'expliquent  moyen- 
nant  I'humeur  et  la  race.  II  etait  Breton;  il  devait  a  cette  origine 
bien  caracterisee  des  points  fixes  de  resistance  dont  il  ne  se  departait 
pas."^  Of  Le  Sage  he  says  that  though  he  met  jealousies  and  made 
enemies  "il  tintferme,  et  ne  se  laissa  aller  a  aucune  basse  complaisance. 
C'est  ici  que  le  Breton  se  retrouve  en  lui."^  Lamennais  he  calls  "ce  dur 
Breton,  avec  ses  asperites  d'origine,"^  and  then,  too,  he  treats  of  the 
manifestation  of  the  Breton  strain  in  Renan:  "II  appartient  a  la  race 
bre tonne  pure,  a  cette  race  triste,  douce,  inflexible  ...  il  a  encore  de  sa 
race  premiere  certains  traits  que  lui-meme  a  notes  comme  les  plus 
profonds  et  les  plus  durables,  la  foi,  le  serieux,  I'antipathie  pour  ce  qui 
est  vulgaire,  le  mepris  de  la  legerete."^  He  points  out  the  influence  of 
English  birth  on  Hamilton,  and  adds  that  "il  ne  fit  que  croiser  ce 
qu'il  y  avait  de  plus  fin  dans  les  deux  races''^  (French  and  English); 
Chesterfield,  too,  unites  in  himself  these  two  races:  "II  unit  assez  bien 
lui-meme  les  avantages  des  deux  nations,  avec  un  trait  pourtant  qui 
est  bien  de  sa  race.  II  avait  de  I'imagination  jusque  dans  I'esprit."^ 
Ramond's  father  was  from  the  south  of  France  and  his  mother  from  the 
Palatinate:  "Le  jeune  Ramond  participa  intellectuellement  de  cette 
double  origine;  il  montra  de  bonne  heure  la  yivacite,  la  promptitude 
brillante  d'impressions  qui  caracterise  les  races  du  Midi,  et  il  y  m^la  de 
la  sensibilite  et  quelque  chose  de  I'enthousiasme  du  Nord."^  His  descrip- 
tion of  Beranger  is  to  the  point:  "Mais  Beranger,  ne  Toublions  pas,  est 
de  la  race  gauloise,  et  la  race  gauloise,-  meme  a  ses  instants  les  plus 
poetiques,  manque  de  reserve  et  de  chastete:  voyez  Voltaire,  Moliere, 
La  Fontaine,  Rabelais  et  Villon,  les  aieux."^  He  reiterates  this  about 
La  Fontaine  elsewhere,''  and  CoUe  he  calls  "le  dernier  des  Gaulois," 
analyzing  what  he  means  by  this.^°  Mile  de  Scudery,  whose  father  was 
a  Gascon  but  had  moved  to  Normandy  and  married  there,  partook  more 
of  her  Norman  than  her  Provencal  blood."  In  writing  of  Goethe,  "le 
'  type  accompli  du  genie  allemand,""  he  recalls  to  our  minds  several  times 


*  Causeries  du  lundi,  IX,  220. 
^Ibid.,U,  359. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  35. 

4  Ibid.,  II,  384. 

5  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  95. 
^Ihid.j  II,  243. 


"flhid.,  X,  447. 

« Ihid.,  II,  292. 

9  Ibid.,  VII,  532. 

^'^  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  370. 

"Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  122. 

"Ibid.,  II,  34^. 


114    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

the  fact  that  we  are  deaUng  with  a  German  and  must  make  allowances 
for  this  in  our  opinions;  and  of  Goethe's  friend  Bettina  Brentano  he 
says  that  she  kept  many  traces  of  her  ItaHan  ancestry:  "  Restee  ItaUenne 
par  son  imagination  ...  elle  sentait  Fart  et  la  nature  comme  on  ne  les 
sent  qu'en  Italic."^ 

Sainte-Beuve  felt  that  in  certain  marked  ways  the  regional  group, 
the  tribe,  as  it  were,  of  which  a  man  was  born,  exercised  a  profound 
influence,  declaring,  for  example,  that  the  soldier  Montluc  derived  his 
prowess  from  his  native  Gascony:  *'Le  Gascon  Montluc,  en  propos  et 
en  action,  c'est  un  heros  de  Corneille  venu  un  peu  plus  tot  ...  il  est  un 
caractere  constant  et  qui  frappe  dans  les  talents  comme  dans  les  courages 
de  cette  genereuse  contree."*  But  a  better  example,  because  clearer, 
is  that  of  the  Abbe  Prevost:  "Ainsi  done,  il  dut  beaucoup  ...  a  sa  race 
du  hon  pays  d'Artois,  comme  il  I'appelait.''^  "  Cependant  on  n'est  pas  du 
midi  impunement"  is  the  way  in  which  he  explains  certain  characteristics 
of  Seiyes.4    And  Raynouard  too  was  from  the  south  of  France : 

Nul  homme  distingue  ne  garda  plus  que  Raynouard  le  cachet  primitif 
de  sa  province,  de  son  endroit  [il  Stait  de  Brignolles].  II  6tait  avant  tout  de  son 
pays  par  I'accent  ...  il  en  etait  par  le  coeur,  par  le  patriotisme,  par  les  idees  ... 
il  etait  de  son  pays  aussi  par  la  gaiete,  par  le  trait,  par  le  petit  mot  pour  rire. 

Even  his  erudition  he  related  to  "son  midi  a  lui."s  "N'oublions  pas 
...  que  Mme  Du  Deffand  etait  de  Bourgogne;  elle  semble  tenir  de  cette 
verve  du  terroir,  qui  inspira  tant  de  piquants  noels  aux  Piron  et  aux 
La  Monnoye."^  This  province,  fertile  in  wits,  gave  birth  also  to  Bussy- 
Rabutin,  "qui  eut  beaucoup  en  lui  de  cette  veine  railleuse  et  mordante, 
de  cet  esprit  de  saillies  dont  on  fait  honneur  a  sa  province,  et  dont  on 
retrouve  maint  temoignage  direct  chez  les  Piron,  les  La  Monnoye,  les 
Du  Deffand ";7  and  Piron,  too,  "tient  de  sa  province  en  general"  in 
this  respect.* 

In  the  same  vein  he  writes  of  Le  Sage,  emphasizing  this  time,  how- 
ever, more  the  territorial  than  the  racial  aspects  of  his  Breton  birth: 

Les  plus  exactes  biographes  le  font  naitre  ...  en  basse  Bretagne.  Du  fond 
de  cette  province  energique  et  rude,  d'oii  nous  sont  venus  de  grands  ecrivains 
...  Le  Sage  nous  arriva  ...  on  ne  trouverait  quelque  chose  du  coin  breton 
en  lui  que  dans  sa  fierte  d'4me  et  son  independance  de  caractere.'* 

» Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  331. 

»Ibid.,Xl,S7.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  422. 

3  Ibid.,  IX,  124.  '  Ibid.,  Ill,  360. 

^Ibid.f  V,  201.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  405. 

sibid.,  pp.  2  ff.  '  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  354. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  115 

Volney,  born  on  the  border  between  Anjou  and  Brittany,  partook  more 
of  the  ''aprete  bretonne"  than  of  the  "mollesse  angevine."'  Mme 
Necker's  Swiss  birth  had  much  to  do  with  her  development,"  as  did  also 
Rousseau's,^  while  St.  Francois  de  Sales,'»  Guy  Patin,s  and  Roederer^ 
partook  distinctly  of  the  qualities  of  their  native  lands.  Camille  Jordan, 
Sainte-Beuve  claims,  was  essentially  a  Lyonnais: 

N6  a  Lyon  ...  il  resta  toute  sa  vie  rhomme  de  son  pays  et  de  sa  villa  natale 
...  le  type  originel  ...  ne  s'affaiblit  jamais.  ...  Ce  caractere  porte  avec  lui 
im  certain  fonds  de  croyances  ...  qui  se  maintient  au  milieu  de  Teffacement 
ou  du  dessechement  trop  general  des  ^mes.' 

At  times  the  very  aspect  of  the  countryside  in  which  a  man  is  born 
seems  to  influence  his  psychology,  as  in  the  case  of  Saint  Lambert,^  of 
Maurice  de  Guerin,'  and  pre-eminently  of  Taine,  on  whom  his  native 
Ardennes  exercised  great  power: 

Ces  Ardennes,  en  effet,  puissantes  et  vastes  ...  ont-ils  contribue  ...  a 
remplir,  a  meubler  de  bonne  heure  I'imagination  du  jeime  et  grave  enfant  ? 
Ce  qui  est  certain,  c'est  qu'il  y  a  dans  son  talent  des  masses  un  peu  fortes, 
des  suites  un  peu  compactes  et  continues,  et  ou  Teclat  et  la  magnificence 
meme  n'epargnent  pas  la  fatigue  ...  on  lui  voudrait  parfois  plus  d'ouver- 
tures  et  plus  d'eclaircies  dans  ses  riches  Ardennes." 

Sainte-Beuve  places  the  emphasis  of  strong  and  reiterated  state- 
ment upon  the  dictum  that  the  critic  shall  place  the  author,  the  states- 
man, or  the  philosopher,  whoever  his  chosen  subject,  in  his  age,  in  his 
epoch,  and  upon  occasion  should  study  both  the  epochs  preceding  and 
succeeding  that  to  which  his  subject  belongs.  In  fully  three-fourths 
of  the  essays  there  is  some  important  consideration  of  the  social  and 
historical  milieu  out  of  which  the  person  or  the  work  under  considera- 
tion has  arisen.  This  is  the  most  consistent  and  pervasive  evidence  of 
Sainte-Beuve 's  scientific-mindedness  as  a  critic.  Indeed  it  is  so  con- 
stant and  pervasive  that  it  is  not  easy  to  isolate  instances  for  citation. 
Running  through  almost  every  essay  is  the  sense  of  epoch,  of  spiritual 
and  social  environment  and  background.  To  take  the  fewest  examples, 
Sainte-Beuve  says  that  Janin  was  obhged  to  change  his  plan  and 
method  of  writing  when  the  Revolution  of  1848  declared  itself;"  Huet 

» Ibid.,  VII,  390. 

'  Ibid.,  IV,  243.  7  Nouveaux  lundis,  XII,  256. 

3  Ibid.,  Ill,  96.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  122. 

4  Ibid.,  VII,  267.  9  Ibid.,  XV,  12,  15. 

5  Ibid.,  VIII,  89.  "  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  71. 
^Ibid.,  p.  327.  "  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  108. 


Ii6    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

was  what  he  was  and  saw  as  he  did  because  of  the  state  of  French 
Letters  in  his  day.^  The  same  explanations  and  interpretations  he  finds 
for  Pasquier  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  Octave  Feuillet  in  the 
nineteenth.* 

The  atmosphere  and  influence  which  molds  men  Sainte-Beuve  con- 
veys rather  by  accumulation  of  detail  than  by  generalized  assertion,  as 
witness  this  passage,  which  is  thoroughly  typical  of  his  method,  on 
Balzac:  "II  avait  quinze  ans  a  la  chute  de  I'Empire;  il  a  done  connu  et 
senti  I'epoque  imperiale."    He  Uved  also  under  the  Restoration: 

II  a  senti  la  Restauration  en  amant.  II  commengait  a  arriver  a  la 
r6putation  en  m6me  temps  que  s'installait  le  nouveau  regime  promulgue  en 
Juillet  1830  ...  ainsi  ces  trois  epoques  de  physionomie  si  diverse  qui  consti- 
tuent le  siecle  arrive  a  son  milieu,  M.  de  Balzac  les  a  connues  et  les  a  vecues 
toutes  les  trois,  et  son  oeuvre  en  est  jusqu'a  un  certain  point  le  miroir.^ 

He  works  in  the  same  strain  in  various  epochs,  picturing  the  society  at 
the  time  of  La  Bruyere  which  gave  birth  to  the  CaracUres,^  and  the 
general  mind  of  the  later  part  of  the  Revolution  and  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  which  produced  the  public  discourses  of  Benjamin 
Constant.^  One  has  but  to  open  a  volume  of  the  Causeries  or  the 
Nouveaux  lundis  to  find  constant  examples  of  this  interest  and  method.^ 
One  of  the  important  items  in  a  man's  background  is  his  family,  says 
Sainte-Beuve,  formulating  his  maxim  thus:  "On  retrouve  a  coup  siir 
I'homme  superieur  au  moins  en  partie  dans  ses  parents,  dans  sa  mere 
surtout  ...  dans  ses  soeurs  aussi,  dans  ses  freres,  dans  ses  enfants 
m^mes."7  Before  examining  whether  or  no  Sainte-Beuve  investigated 
this  matter,  it  is  necessary  to  point  out  that  nothing  is  made  here 
of  the  innumerable  cases  in  which  he  merely  mentions  the  parentage  of 
his  subject,  naming  his  father  and  mother,  one  or  both,  as  a  bit  of 
biographical  routine.  Sainte-Beuve,  like  all  biographers,  seldom  fails  to 
tell  in  this  perfunctory  way  the  origin  of  the  person  whom  he  is  studying, 
as,  for  example,  "fiUe  d'un  des  officiers  du  Due  de  Lorraine,  et  petite 
niece,  par  sa  mere,  du  fameux  Callot,"*  or  of  Rabelais,  "fils  d'un  cabaretier 
de  Chinon";9  or  of  Marivaux,  "ne  d'un  pere  financier  et  dans  I'aisance."" 
Such  passages  have  not  been  counted  or  noted  in  detail.    But  there  are 

» Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  166.  ^  Cf.  also  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  248. 

'  Ibid.,  Ill,  250;  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  3.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  18. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  444.  *  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  209. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  126.  •  Ibid.,  Ill,  4. 

s  Ibid.,  p.  418.  "  Ibid.,  IX,  343. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  117 

cases  in  which  actual  influence  or  significant  resemblances  between  a 
man  and  the  members  of  his  family  have  been  emphasized  or  elaborated 
by  Sainte-Beuve.  These  have  been  collected  as  follows:  after  speaking 
of  the  family  of  Lacordaire:  "Je  n'ai  pas  voulu  omettre  ces  premieres 
circonstances;  car  il  n'est  pas  indifferent,  selon  moi  ...  d'etre  sorti 
d'une  race  solide  et  saine";^  the  father  of  Theodore  Leclerq  was  "un 
bon  bourgeois  parisien"  and  "la  riche  bourgeoisie  parisienne  a,  de  tout 
temps,  produit  des  esprits  fins,  des  railleurs  distingues  et  libres."^ 
Maurice  de  Guerin's  noble  family  and  Mme  Desbordes-Valmore's 
humble  one  left  indelible  impressions  on  these  two  artists.^  Of  Mira- 
beau  he  says:  "il  avait  en  nalssant,  apporte  plusieurs  des  traits  essentiels 
de  la  famille  paternelle,  mais  en  les  combinant  avec  d'autres  qui  tenaient 
de  sa  mere"  I''  and  of  Horace  Vernet  he  declares  that  he  was  a  painter  by 
inheritance,  it  was  "un  talent  de  race" — by  which  he  means  here 
"family" — "de  quelque  cote  qu'on  remonte  dans  ses  origines,  on  ne 
voit  que  peintres  et  dessinateurs."^  Piron  also  "tient  de  sa  famille  en 
particulier.  ...  Les  Piron  etaient  une  souche  de  chansonniers,  de  malins 
comperes  et  de  satiriques."^  Mme  de  Motteville's  good  sense  came 
from  her  family:  "Je  releve  tout  d'abord  ce  fonds  de  sagesse,  qui 
semblait  appartenir  a  la  race,"^  and  Leopold  Robert's  simphcity  and 
democracy  can  be  seen  in  his  family  also.^  The  family  as  a  unit  is,  then, 
genuinely  creative  in  molding  the  genius. 

In  the  immediate  family  it  is  the  mother  to  whom  one  looks  for 
the  most  powerful  influence;  the  most  notable  instance  perhaps  is 
that  of  the  mother  of  Littre,  the  savant.  Sainte-Beuve  devotes  a 
paragraph  to  telling  of  her  birth  and  quahties  and  adds  "avec  cela 
douee  d'une  elevation  d'ame  et  d'un  sentiment  de  la  justice  qu'elle  dut 
transmettre  a  ce  fils.  ...  II  tient  beaucoup  d'elle."'  Ducis,  born  of  a 
French  mother  and  a  Savoyard  father,  "etait  lion  par  son  pere  et  berger 
par  sa  mere."  The  mother  of  Le  President  De  Brosses  "  etait  femme 
forte  ...  et  faite  aussi  pour  transmettre  a  son  fils  le  zele  des  nobles  et 
soUdes  traditions.""  He  goes  out  of  his  way  to  give  accounts  of  their 
mothers'  influence  on  Huet,"  on  Fontenelle,^^  on  I'Abbe  de  Choisy,*^  and 

^  Ihid.,  I,  223.  8  ij}id.^  X,  411. 

2  Ihid.y  III,  528.  9  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  204. 

3  Ibid.,  XII,  232;  Nouveaux  lundis,  XII,  186.  "  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  457. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  3.  "  Ibid.,  VII,  86. 
s  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  43.  "  Ibid.,  II,  166. 

6  Ibid.,  VII,  405.  « Ibid.,  Ill,  315. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  169.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  429. 


Ii8    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

on  Joseph  de  Maistre.^  Finally  Sainte-Beuve  describes  Mirabeau's 
inheritance  from  his  mother  in  these  terms: 

II  tenait  de  sa  mere  la  largeur  du  visage,  les  instincts,  les  appetits  prodigues 
et  sensuels,  mais  probablement  aussi  ce  certain  fonds  gaillard  et  gaulois,  cette 
f aculte  de  se  f amiUariser  et  de  s'humaniser  que  les  Riquetti  (his  father's  family) 
n'avaient  pas,  et  qui  deviendra  im  des  moyens  de  sa  puissance.' 

As  the  mother's  influence  may  be  active  in  a  man,  so  lack  of  her  influence 
may  produce  certain  traits,  as  in  the  case  of  Volney  and  of  Gibbon, 
** ceux  a  qui  a  manqu6  cette  solUcitude  d'une  mere  ...  sont  plus  aisement 
que  d'autres  denues  du  sentiment  de  la  religion."^  On  the  whole  we 
may  say  that,  consistently  with  his  maxim  concerning  the  family,  it  is 
to  the  mother's  influence  that  Sainte-Beuve  uniformly  attributes  the 
most  importance. 

While  there  is  not  so  frequent  consideration  of  the  father's  influence 
and  the  cases  are  not  so  specific  or  detailed,  the  following  instances  are 
to  be  noted.  Huet  received  much  from  his  father,  "le  talent  poetique 
qu'il  montra,  il  dut  I'avoir  herite  de  lui."4  Mirabeau's  father  impressed 
himself  upon  his  son  through  his  indomitable  will,  his  rigidity,  and 
cruelty .5  Pierre  Dupont  "par  son  pere  tient  a  la  classe  des  artisans," 
and  this  was  a  distinctive  factor  in  his  poetry.^  Sainte-Beuve  tells  in 
some  detail  the  life-history  of  the  elder  Sainte-Simon,  pointing  out  those 
things  which  his  son  must  have  inherited  or  which  must  otherwise  have 
passed  from  his  father  into  his  consciousness  and  character:  "On 
decouvre  meme  dans  le  pere  de  Saint-Simon  une  quaUte  dont  ne  sera 
pas  prive  son  fils,  une  sorte  d'humeur  qui,  au  besoin,  devient  de  I'aigreur.''^ 
The  characterization  of  the  father  of  Alexis  Piron  as  the  literary  as  well 
as  the  natural  parent  of  his  son  must  also  be  instanced  here.  Sainte- 
Beuve  felt  that  he  himself  had  inherited  his  Uterary  bent  and  had  derived 
his  literary  talent  from  his  father,^  and  reference  must  be  made  again 
to  the  article  on  Littre  in  which  there  is  a  fairly  detailed  history  of 
Littre  p^re,  with  special  bearing  upon  his  spiritual  relationship  to  his 
son.9  Sainte-Beuve  quotes  Ducis  as  saying  of  the  elder  Ducis:  "C'est 
lui  qui,  par  son  sang  et  ses  examples,  a  transmis  a  mon  ame  ses  principaux 
traits  et  ses  mattresses  formes.'''''    P.  L.  Courier's  father's  quarrel  with  a 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  194.  ^Ibid.,  p.  69. 

'  Ibid.,  ly,  3.  7/6«/.,XV,427. 

3  Ibid.,  VIII,  436.  "  Cahiers,  p.  56. 

^  Ibid.,  II,  167.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  201. 

s  Ibid.,  IV,  2.  "  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  457- 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  119 

grand  seigneur  was  inherited  by  his  son  and  became  a  main  tenet  in  his 
poHtical  creed.^  One  of  the  most  extended  of  the  studies  of  fathers  is 
that  of  Mme  Dacier's  parent,  an  erudite  but  not  pedantic  man,  who 
transmitted  much  of  his  inspiration  and  not  a  Uttle  of  his  knowledge  to 
his  distinguished  daughter: 

Fille  d'un  savant  et  d'un  erudit,  [elle]  ne  faisait,  en  s'adonnant,  comme 
elle  fit,  a  Tantiquite,  qu'obeir  a  Fesprit  de  famille  et  ceder  a  una  sorte 
d'heredite  domestique.  II  faut  lui  passer  d'etre  erudite  comme  a  la  fille  de 
Pythagore  d'avoir  ete  philosophe,  comme  a  la  fille  de  I'orateur  Hortensius 
d'avoir  ete  eloquente,  comme  a  la  fille  du  grand  jurisconsulte  Accurse  d'avoir 
excelle  dans  le  droit.' 

The  critic  may  find  a  study  of  the  subject's  brothers  and  sisters 
very  fruitful,  for  in  them,  says  Sainte-Beuve,  the  peculiarities  of  the  great 
man  may  often  be  seen  "plus  a  nu  et  a  I'etat  simple. "^  Sainte-Beuve 
himseK  gives  us  striking  examples  of  this  principle:  the  sisters  of 
Chateaubriand  (who  share  the  essential  characteristics  of  their  great 
brother  unmixed  with  many  elements  added  by  his  more  complex 
experience);  the  sisters  of  Lamartine;  Mme  de  Surville,  Balzac's  sister; 
and  Juhe,  sister  of  Beaumarchais.  This  JuHe  possessed  the  spirit  of 
GaUic  gaiety  which  is  so  marked  in  her  dramatist  brother.^  Diderot's 
sister  also  exhibited  many  traits  in  common  with  her  brother: 

II  avait  une  soeur  d'un  caractere  original,  d'un  coeur  excellent,  brave  fille 
qui  ne  se  maria  point  pour  mieux  servir  son  pere,  "vive,  agissante,  gaie, 
decidee,  prompte  a  s'offenser,  lente  a  revenir,  sans  souci  ni  sur  le  present  ni 
sur  Tavenir,  ...  libre  dans  ses  actions,  plus  libre  encore  dans  ses  propos:  une 
espece  de  Diogbne  femelle.'^  On  entrevoit  en  quoi  Diderot  tenait  d'elle,  et  en 
quoi  il  en  differait:  elle  etait  la  branche  restee  rude  et  sauvageonne,  lui  le 
rameau  greffe,  cultive,  adouci,  epanoui.s 

M.  Couhnann  had  a  beautiful  and  accomphshed  sister,  evidently  of  the 
same  stock  as  himself,^  and  Ernest  Renan's  sister  Henriette  was  Hke  a 
second  mother  to  him  and  shared  in  many  of  his  quaUties.^  Perhaps 
the  best  case  of  all  is  that  of  the  De  Guerins,  Maurice  and  Eugenie,  where 
the  latter  actually  shared  her  brother's  genius  and  exercised  a  genuine 
and  traceable  spiritual  and  intellectual  influence  upon  him.^ 

There  are  perhaps  not  so  many  cases  in  which  Sainte-Beuve  finds 
light  thrown  upon  a  genius  by  the  study  of  a  brother.    The  first  and 

*  Ibid.f  p.  323.  s  Ibid.,  Ill,  294. 

'  Ibid.,  IX,  477.  ^Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  137. 

3  Cf .  "  Scientific  Criticism,"  p.  36.  ^  im.,  II,  385. 

*  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  256.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XII,  235  ff. 


I20    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

classic  instance  is,  however,  that  of  Boileau,  in  which  Sainte-Beuve 
offers  the  two  brothers  of  "the  lawgiver  of  Parnassus"  as  examples 
and  proof  of  his  theory:^  "La  nature  avait  combine  en  Despreaux  les 
traits  de  I'un  et  de  I'autre"  (of  his  two  brothers),  but  nature  has  added 
to  Boileau  himself  the  element  of  genius.  This  idea  interested  Sainte- 
Beuve  so  much  that  he  develops  it  in  another  passage  at  some  length.* 
He  studies  first  Gilles  Boileau,  avocat  et  rimeur,  who  lacked  only  solidity 
and  taste  to  be  like  his  great  brother:  then  he  studies  Jacques  Boileau, 
"dit  I'Abbe  Boileau, ...  qui  par  ses  calembours  et  ses  gaietes,  me  fait  assez 
I'effet  d'un  Despreaux  en  facetie  et  en  belle  humeur."  He  sums  up: 
"II  me  semble  que  la  nature ...  essayait  deja  un  premier  crayon  de  Nicolas 
quand  elle  crea  Gilles  ...  puis  elle  fit  Jacques  ...  Gilles  est  Vehauchey 
Jacques  est  la  charge^  Nicolas  est  le  portrait.'^^  He  draws  an  outline 
portrait  of  Diderot's  brother,  pointing  out  what  he  has  in  common  with 
the  philosopher  ;4  he  describes  Georges  de  Scudery  in  his  essay  on  Mile 
de  Scudery  ;s  the  brother  of  Mezeray  is  studied  to  show  certain  pecuUari- 
ties  of  the  more  famous  man  and  to  illuminate  certain  traits  of  his 
character.^  The  anecdote  he  tells  about  Piron  and  his  brothers  being 
tried  out  by  their  father  is  diverting  and  illuminating ;'  but  he  treats 
in  a  more  serious  vein  the  three  Perrault  brothers,  the  doctor,  the 
architect,  and  the  writer,  all  men  of  genius.*  On  the  whole  he  seems  to 
have  found  brothers  important  as  illustrations  and  illuminations  rather 
than  as  influences. 

As  an  example  of  studying  the  children  of  the  person  under  discus- 
sion Saint-Beuve  makes  much  of  the  case  of  Mme  de  Sevigne  and  her 
children,  son  and  daughter;  she  "semblait  d'etre  dedoublee  dans  ses 
deux  enfants:  le  ChevaUer,  leger,  etourdi,  ayant  la  grace,  et  Mme  de 
Grignan,  inteUigente  mais  un  peu  froide,  ayant  pris  pour  elle  la  raison."' 
He  briefly  adduces  another  in  the  case  of  the  Comtesse  de  Fontanes, 
and  her  sister — "  chanoinesse,  fiUe  du  poete  qui  m'a  aide  a  mieux  com- 
prendre  et  a  me  mieux  representer  le  poete  leur  pere.""  Mme  de  Stael 
furnishes  an  illuminating  contrast  to  her  mother,  Mme  Necker,"  while 
Mme  Girardin  and  the  Countess  O'Donnell  aid  in  explaining  their  mother, 
Mme  Sophie  Gay."    More  striking  and  more  detailed  than  any  of  these 

»  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  20.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  406. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  496.  *  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  257. 

3  Ibid.y  p.  498.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  20. 

4  Ibid.,  Ill,  294.  "  Ibid.,  p.  21. 

» Ibid.,  IV,  121.  "  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  257. 

« Ibid.,  VIII,  197.  "  Ibid.,  VI,  64. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  121 

is  his  study  of  the  personality  of  Mme  Desbordes-Valmore  in  that  of 
her  daughters  Inez  and  Ondine: 

Ondine  etait  poetique  aussi  et  meme  poete;  elle  tenait  de  sa  mere  le  don 
du  chant.  ...  Cette  charmante  Ondine  avait  des  points  de  ressemblance  ... 
avec  sa  mere.  ...  A  la  difference  de  sa  mere  qui  se  prodiguait  a  tous  ...  elle 
sentait  le  besoin  de  se  recueiUir,  de  se  reserver;  ...  Ondine  etudiait  beaucoup.* 

Then  follows  a  quite  detailed  statement  of  the  Hterary  talents  and 
acquirements  of  the  charming  Ondine. 

There  is  no  instance  in  which  Sainte-Beuve  makes  a  study  of  unsuc- 
cessful or  merely  negative  kindred  by  way  of  throwing  light  on  his 
important  personage.  The  psychology  of  his  day  attached  no  impor- 
tance to  this  kind  of  evidence,  and  we  could  scarcely  expect  him  to  have 
appreciated  its  value. 

Summarizing,  we  conclude  that  it  is  evident  from  the  number  and 
importance  of  the  instances  assembled  that  Sainte-Beuve  did  have  the 
principle  of  the  study  of  a  man's  kindred  always  in  his  consciousness,  and 
he  found  that  its  appUcation  constantly  yielded  him  adequate  reward. 

Next  in  natural  order  is  a  discussion  of  Sainte-Beuve's  dictum  that 
it  is  important  for  the  critic  to  study  the  childhood,  youth,  and  education 
of  his  subject.  It  is  easy  to  dispose  of  this  in  its  most  general  aspect, 
for  never  did  Sainte-Beuve  fail,  when  the  scope  and  scheme  of  his  essay 
permitted  it,  to  give  attention,  sometimes  scrupulous  attention,  to  the 
educational  experience  of  his  subject.  It  is  with  intention  that  the 
phrase  "when  the  scope  and  scheme  of  his  essay  permitted  it"  is  used, 
for  certain  essays  are  concerned  with  the  review  of  a  single  book,  certain 
others  deal  with  an  epoch  or  a  movement  in  which  human  figures  are 
minimized.  In  such  essays  there  is  no  invitation  to  consider  in  any 
detail  a  separate  man's  education.  But  in  those  papers  in  which  the 
critic  presents  a  man's  life  he  invariably  makes  much  of  his  youth  and 
education,  both  the  more  formal  training  which  he  derived  from 
books,  masters,  and  schools  and  the  informal  education  that  came  to 
him  from  his  physical  and  social  environment.  A  few  typical  and 
significant  instances  follow.  His  study  of  Florian's  youth  points  out 
those  influences  which  helped  to  form  the  pretty  talent  of  the  fabulist: 
he  was  brought  up  and  educated  in  an  intellectual  atmosphere  of  wit, 
in  a  social  atmosphere  of  gentiUty,  among  people  of  gentle  manners;  he 
was  petted  and  spoiled  and  praised,  and  his  dwelling  in  the  Alps  developed 
in  him  "un  sentiment  tout  nouveau,  plein  de  fraicheur,  Tamour  de  la 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  XII,  168. 


122    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

nature."'  In  the  case  of  De  Maistre,  Sainte-Beuve  says  of  his  education 
that  **il  avait  ete  eleve  selon  I'esprit  de  la  severite  antique,  et  il  en  garda 
tou jours  le  cachet  dans  ses  moeurs  et  dans  son  caractere,"  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  show  how  this  "premiere  education  pure,  etroite  et  forte" 
made  De  Maistre  what  he  was,  "comme  ces  chenes  qui  prennent  pied 
dans  une  terre  un  peu  apre  et  qui  s'enracinent  plus  fermement  entre  les 
rochers."*  A  noted  instance  of  his  studies  of  education  may  be  found 
in  the  Taine  article.  Take  two  of  the  details  of  this  study:  first,  the 
early  environment  of  Taine's  childhood,  in  the  Ardennes,  educated  by 
his  father  and  uncle,  men  of  sterling  worth  and  character;  second, 
his  experience  in  the  £cole  Normale,  which  he  entered  in  1810,  and  in 
which  he  spent  three  years.  In  this  school  in  Taine's  day  the  students 
did  most  of  the  instructing,  teaching  one  another  in  free  debate,  only 
guided  by  the  maUres  de  conference.  Sainte-Beuve  traces  in  much  detail 
the  probable  result  on  the  young  minds  and  the  actual  result  on  Taine: 

Les  avantages  d'une  telle  palestre  savante  ...  sont  au  dela  de  ce  qu'on 
peut  dire  ...  et  Ton  salt  quelle  forte  et  brillante  eUte  est  sortie  de  cette  educa- 
tion feconde,  orageuse,  toute  frangaise.  Nul,  en  s'6mancipant,  n'y  est  reste 
plus  fidele  que  M.  Taine  et  ne  fait  plus  d'honneur  a  la  severite  de  ses  origines.^ 

In  his  study  of  Cowper,  Sainte-Beuve  finds  much  explanatory  material 
in  the  childhood  and  earliest  education  of  the  poet.  Cowper,  deprived 
almost  in  infancy  of  the  mother  who  was  so  well  equipped  to  train  the 
sensitive,  imaginative  child,  fell  into  the  hands  of  rigorous  teachers. 
His  earliest  religious  instruction  planted  ineradicably  in  his  consciousness 
the  terrifying  images  and  the  paralyzing  doctrines  of  a  thoroughgoing 
Calvinistic  theology.  His  experience  in  school  subjected  him  to  the 
dreads  and  terrors  of  a  cruelty  exercised  by  severe  masters  and  brutal 
older  boys.  All  these  experiences  co-operated  with  his  naturally  shrink- 
ing and  sensitive  temperament  to  render  him  the  victim,  even  in  his 
dreams,  of  nameless  and  ungovernable  fears.  Twice  he  was  precipitated 
into  insanity  by  sheer  fright,  sheer  dread  of  appearing  in  public,  and  all 
his  life  he  had  recurring  spells  of  melancholia,  projecting  over  his  life 
the  dim  shadows  of  his  childhood's  experiences.  This  interested  Sainte- 
Beuve  immensely.  He  translated  in  full  Cowper's  touching  poem  on 
his  mother's  picture,  and  he  draws  in  full  detail  the  facts  of  Cowper's 
childhood.4    Though  we  know  now  that  Cowper's  madness  was  tempera- 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  232.      '  Ibid.^  IV,  193.      3  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  74. 

^Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  141.  Compare  Sainte-Beuve's  treatment  with  that  of 
Thomas  Wright,  The  Life  of  William  Cowper  (1892),  pp.  59,  113,  205,  310,  450.  He 
shows  that  Cowper's  melancholia  was  temperamental,  and  that  his  early  experiences 
only  colored  it. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  123 

mental  and  his  experiences  rather  the  occasion  than  the  causes  of  his 
insanity,  we  still  justify  Sainte-Beuve's  immense  interest  in  his  case. 
Two  more  cases  may  be  cited  with  profit,  though  the  Hst  could  be  pro- 
longed; that  of  RoUin,  who  "etait  du  Pays  latin,^^  and  to  understand 
whom  "il  faut  remonter  a  cette  vie  anterieure  durant  laquelle  il  s'etait 
forme,"  the  university  hfe;^  and  the  second  instance,  that  of  Maurice 
de  Guerin,  in  whom  Sainte-Beuve  studies  the  epoque  nourricUre  of  his 
talent,  his  stay  in  Brittany .^  We  may  say  then  that  Sainte-Beuve  in 
all  those  essays  which  took  the  biographical  form  gave  special  considera- 
tion to  the  facts  of  childhood,  education,  and  youth,  in  certain  striking 
instances  amplifying  the  matter,  and  in  a  few  cases,  as  with  Taine  and 
Cowper,  following  in  a  penetrating  study  the  effects  of  early  experience 
into  the  later  life  and  work  of  his  subject. 

Sainte-Beuve  reckons  as  important  in  the  complete  understanding  of 
a  man  the  knowledge  of  "le  premier  groupe  d'amis  et  de  contemporains  " 
with  whom  he  was  associated.  In  a  few  important  cases  he  himself 
places  the  man  in  his  group  of  contemporaries.  He  gives  as  examples 
the  cases  of  Boileau,  La  Fontaine,  and  Moliere;  of  Chateaubriand, 
Fontanes,  and  Joubert;  the  reunion  at  Gottingen  of  Burger,  Voss, 
Holty,  and  Stolberg;  the  critical  circle  of  Jeffrey  in  Edinburgh;  the 
society  to  which  Thomas  Moore  belonged  in  Dublin^ — these  cases  he 
cites  to  test  his  theory.  When  it  comes  to  his  own  practice,  in  many 
cases  he  sets  the  writer  firmly  in  his  group,  as  for  example  the  etcher 
Gavarni: 

Lui  aussi,  il  etait  de  ce  groupe  d'artistes  chercheurs,  voues  a  la  produc- 
tion feconde,  a  la  renovation  de  I'art  dans  tous  les  genres,  et  dent  la  naissance, 
remontant  aux  premieres  annees  du  siecle,  a  ete  comme  proclamee  a  son  de 
trompe  dans  ce  vers  celebre:  "Le  siecle  avait  deux  ans."  ...  Variez  le  chiffre 
...  et  vous  aurez,  en  sept  ou  huit  ans,  toute  la  couvee  reunie,  tout  le  groupe.^ 

Another  example  is  that  of  Maurice  de  Guerin:  "Ne  le  5  aout  1810  il 
appartenait  a  cette  seconde  generation  du  siecle  lequel  n'avait  plus  deux 
ou  trots  ans,  mais  bien  dix  ou  onze  lorsqu'il  produisait  cette  volee  nouvelle 
des  Musset,  des  Montalambert,  des  Guerin;  je  joins  expres  ces  noms."s 
A  little  later  in  the  century  Theophile  Gautier  and  the  Jeunes  France 
were  occupied  d  epater  le  bourgeois  when  in  1833  he,  with  Camille  Rogier, 
Gerard  de  Nerval,  Arsene  Houssaye,  Bouchardy,  Celestin  Nanteuil, 
Jean  Duseigneur,  Petrus  Borel,  Theophile  Dondey  (called  O'Neddy), 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  262. 

^  Ibid.,  XV,  17.  4  lUd.,  VI,  143. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  21.  s  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  3. 


124    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

and  Auguste  Maquet,  used  to  gather  every  evening  in  the  impasse  du 
Doyenne  J  The  group  with  which  Ampere  was  connected  in  his  youth — 
Sautelet,  Frank  Carre,  Jules  Bastide,  Albert  Stapfer — all  read  Obermann 
and  all  suffered  from  his  spiritual  malady.'  Taine's  contemporaries 
at  the  ficole  Normale  were,  among  others,  Edmond  About,  Prevost- 
Paradol,  Weiss,  sharing  a  common  interest  and  a  common  vocation.^ 
At  the  time  of  Duclos  the  literary  world  was  divided  between  the  two 
great  cafes,  Procope  and  Gradot.  Duclos  patronized  the  former  with 
Boindin,  I'Abbe  Terrasson,  Freret,  and  Piron.^  Another  instance  of 
Sainte-Beuve's  studying  le  premier  milieu  is  in  the  case  of  Parny,  who 
came  to  Paris  in  1770  and  there  joined 

una  petite  coterie  de  jeunes  gens  ...  qui  soupaient,  aimaient,  faisaient  des 
vers,  et  ne  prenaient  la  vie  a  son  debut  que  comme  une  legere  et  riante  orgie 
...  mais  le  propre  de  cette  aimable  societe  ...  c'est  que  la  distinction,  I'elegance, 
le  gout  de  Tesprit  surnageaient  toujours  jusque  dans  le  vin  et  les  plaisirs.^ 

Joubert  in  his  youth  was  a  member  of  a  group  "ce  qu'il  fit  en  ces  annees 
de  jeunesse  pent  se  resumer  en  ce  seul  mot.  II  causa  avec  les  gens 
de  lettres  en  renom;  il  connut  Marmontel,  La  Harpe,  D'Alembert:  il 
connut  surtout  Diderot  ...  I'infiuence  de  ce  dernier  sur  lui  fut  grande."^ 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  the  former  cases  Sainte-Beuve  mentions  the 
volee  of  kindred  spirits,  the  common  children  of  an  epoch;  while  in  the 
case  of  Joubert  the  names  he  mentions  are  of  those  friends  who  exercised 
a  formative  influence  on  him.  He  says  furthermore  of  these  friends 
of  Joubert  that  "ils  se  sentaient  nes  pour  une  ceuvre  commune.  "^ 

It  is  desirable  to  study  a  writer,  says  Sainte-Beuve,  at  his  debut, 
at  the  moment  of  his  first  success,  when  he  has  declared  himself,  but 
before  he  has  acquired  any  mannerisms.  This  is  on  the  whole  the  item  in 
his  program  that  Sainte-Beuve  most  frequently  uses,  since  he  holds  it 
important  to  study  a  man's  first  work,  analyzing  and  estimating  it  at  the 
moment  of  his  entry  into  the  lists.  Especially  significant  are  his  studies 
of  the  first  appearance  of  Montalambert,^  of  Mme  Recamier,'  of  Adrienne 
Lecouvreur,^°  of  Lacordaire,"  of  Alfred  de  Musset,"  of  Mazarin,"  of 
Leclerq.^4    Indeed,  in  a  large  group  of  biographical  essays  taken  at  random 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  277.  *  Ihid.^  p.  81. 

» Ibid.,  XIII,  192.  9  Ibid.,  p.  127. 

3  md.,  VIII,  72.  "  Ibid.,  p.  204. 

<  Causeries  du  lundi,  IX,  208.  "  Ibid.,  p.  226. 

s  Ibid.,  XV,  286.  "  Ibid.,  p.  297. 

<>Ibid.,  I,  161.  ,                       ^Ibid.,  11,  250. 

7  IHd.                     ,  »<  Ibid.,  Ill,  546. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  125 

from  the  two  series  it  was  found  that  nearly  all  gave  attention  to  the 
literary  debut  of  the  subject,  many  of  them  emphasizing  it.  Among  those 
that  emphasize  the  author's  first  success  and  then  trace  its  influence  in  his 
later  life  notable  ones  are  the  essays  on  Parny/  on  Pariset,^  on  Alfred  de 
Vigny  (in  this  case  very  carefully)  ;^  he  makes  much  of  Taine's  work  on 
La  Fontaine,  saying  that  it  forestalls  most  that  was  best  in  his  later 
work.4  Perhaps  the  best  example  of  his  use  of  this  principle  is  his 
study  of  the  youth  of  Moreau  before  he  became  spoiled  and  pessimistic 
by  contact  with  the  world  :s  "II  y  eut  en  ces  annees  un  Hegesippe 
Moreau  primitif,  pur,  naturel,  adolescent,  non  irrite,  point  irreligieux, 
dans  toute  la  fleur  de  sensibilite  et  de  bonte,  anime  de  tous  les  instincts 
genereux,  et  non  encore  atteint  des  maladies  du  siecle."^  In  the  case 
of  Magnin,  Sainte-Beuve  reiterates  his  principle:  "  Je  vise  toujours  ...  k 
juger  les  ecrivains  d'apres  leur  force  initiale  et  en  les  debarrassant  de 
ce  qu'ils  ont  de  surajoute  ou  d'acquis,"  and  then  goes  into  a  long  descrip- 
tion of  the  youthful  qualities  of  the  famous  editor  of  the  Globe.''  One 
more  striking  example  cannot  be  passed  over,  that  of  the  youth  of 
Corneille  and  his  first  great  success:  "Quant  a  Comeille,  il  n'y  a  qu'une 
maniere  de  le  bien  apprecier,  c'est  de  le  voir  a  son  moment,  a  son  debut. 
...  Reportons  nous  a  I'heure  unique  du  Cid  et  a  ce  qu'elle  inaugura. 
C'est  le  point  de  vue  veritable  d'oii  il  convient  d'envisager  Corneille";* 
and  he  devotes  four  essays  to  the  study  of  this  sublime  work. 

We  might  almost  predict,  knowing  Sainte-Beuve's  balanced  and 
logical  mind,  that  he  would  say  next  that  we  should  know  a  man's  mind 
at  the  close  of  his  working  life,  at  the  moment  "oil  il  se  g^te,  oil  il  se 
corrompt,  ou  il  dechoit,  ou  il  devie,"''  at  the  moment  of  his  professional 
and  artistic  dissolution.  He  describes  Mme  du  Deflfand,  full  of  humor 
and  gaiety,  "telle  elle  etait  a  I'age  ou  expirent  les  derniers  rayons  de  la 
jeunesse,""  but  she  fought  against  oncoming  old  age.  Mme  Recamier, 
on  the  contrary,  he  finds,  did  not  struggle,  but  accepted  her  fate  grace- 
fully, "quand  [elle]  vit  s'avancer  I'heure  ou  la  beaute  baisse  et  p^Ut 
elle  fit  ce  que  bien  peu  de  femmes  savent  faire;  elle  ne  lutta  point;  elle 
accepta  avec  gout  les  premieres  marques  du  temps,""  and  Sainte-Beuve 
praises  her  highly  for  this  proof  and  exhibition  of  her  philosophy  and  good 

^  Ibid.,  XV,  286. 

*  Ibid.,  I,  401,  411.  7  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  446. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  403.  *  Ibid.,  VII,  220. 

4  Ibid.,  Vin,  73.  9  Ibid.,  Ill,  36. 

s  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  53.  "  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  418. 

^  Ibid.  "  Ibid.y  p.  132. 


126    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

taste.  The  fabulist  Florian  allowed  himself  to  exaggerate  some  of  his 
quaUties  in  his  old  age/  Mile  de  Scudery  and  Theodore  Leclerq  are 
taken  up  at  this  interesting  moment  of  their  careers  also.^  In  no  case 
are  the  inferences  as  clear  and  instructive  as  the  program  itself  would 
lead  one  to  expect,  and  it  seems  that  Sainte-Beuve  scarcely  made  the 
most  of  his  opportunity  in  respect  to  this  aspect  of  his  criticism.  He 
seems  never  to  have  been  as  much  interested  in  the  investigation  of  the 
qualities  exhibited  in  a  man's  latest  work  as  in  those  of  his  earliest. 

The  next  step  in  Sainte-Beuve's  ritual  of  criticism  carries  us  into  a 
man's  private  and  intimate  life.  Here  he  says  that  there  are  certain 
questions  we  must  ask,  the  answers  to  which  throw  essential  Ught 
on  the  nature  and  quaUty  of  a  man's  character.^  The  first  of  these 
questions  is,  "Que  pensait-il  de  la  religion?"  Unless  the  occasion 
demanded,  as  in  the  treatment  of  a  rehgious  philosopher  or  that  of  an 
abbe  or  a  preacher,  Sainte-Beuve  did  not  often  press  or  answer  this 
question.  He  throws  in  a  sentence  or  two,  such  as  this  on  Barnave: 
"  Ses  parents  professaient  la  religion  reformee,  mais  il  ne  parait  y  avoir 
rien  puise,  en  aucun  temps,  qu'une  certaine  habitude  reflechie  et  grave. "-» 
The  Abbe  GaUani  he  describes  as  essentially  the  rehgious  philosopher 
of  the  eighteenth  century .s  The  case,  however,  of  Cowper  remains  the 
most  instructive  because  his  fatalistic  Calvinism  colored  his  whole  Ufe 
and  work.^  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  cite  the  instances  of  Pascal, 
Flechier,  Bourdaloue,  Francois  de  Sales,  Fenelon,  Bossuet,  Rousseau, 
and  the  philosophers  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Saint-Simon,  Lacordaire, 
Montalambert  and  the  rest,  in  which  the  subject  necessitates  or  suggests 
the  treatment  of  reUgion.  However,  aside  from  those  mentioned, 
scarcely  any  are  of  first-rate  importance  or  are  worked  out  in  detail.  He 
more  often  mentions  the  religion  of  the  women  he  criticizes  than  that 
of  the  men. 

The  second  question  Sainte-Beuve  would  ask  is,  "Comment  etait  ... 
il  affecte  du  spectacle  de  la  nature  ?"  He  answers  this  question  in  the 
case  of  Maurice  de  Guerin,  saying  that  the  poet  identified  himself 
with  nature  and  felt  himself  at  one  with  her:  "  Tous  les  accidents 
naturels  qui  passent,  une  pluie  d'avril,  une  bourrasque  de  mars,  une 
tendre  et  capricieuse  nuaison  de  mai,  tout  lui  parle,  tout  le  saisit  et 
I'enleve;  il  a  beau  s'arreter  en  de  courts  instants."^    Mme  de  Motteville 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  247. 

» Ibid.,  IV,  139;  III,  547.  5  Ibid.,  p.  429. 

3  Cf.  supra,  p.  38.  ^  Ibid.,  XI,  146. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  24.  '  Ibid.,  XV,  11. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  127 

**avait  puise  dans  sa  belle  Normandie  Tamour  de  la  campagne  et  de 
la  nature,  mais  elle  n'en  savait  pas  jouir  en  courant";^  Volney  was  given 
to  philosophizing  in  the  manner  of  the  eighteenth-century  philosophers 
in  the  presence  of  Alpine  peaks  f  Cowper  was  a  lover  of  the  countryside, 
amant  de  la  nature,  knowing  each  and  every  one  of  her  aspects  and  moods  ;^ 
even  in  Flechier  ''on  retrouve,  sous  I'expression  artificielle,  un  certain 
gout  et  un  sentiment  fleuri  de  la  nature. "^  One  need  but  touch  on  what 
he  says  of  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierres  and  Rousseau*^  in  respect  to  their 
appreciation  of  natural  beauty — any  critic  writing  of  them  would  be 
obhged  to  discuss  so  saUent  a  characteristic;  but  of  peculiar  interest  is 
the  passage  on  Chapelle  and  Bachaumont  wherein  he  practically  sums 
up  the  attitude  of  the  seventeenth  century  toward  nature  and  country 
things,  contrasting  it  with  that  of  the  ancients.  Their  travels  through 
the  country  were  less  voyages  of  discovery  than  "  travestiments  et 
parodies  de  la  nature."^  Only  La  Fontaine  is  at  home  in  the  country, 
the  first  author  before  Rousseau  with  a  genuine  sentiment  of  nature.* 
The  classical  attitude  is  aptly  summed  up  in  Malherbe:  "II  a  tres  peu 
d'images  empruntees  directement  a  la  nature;  c'est  un  citadin,  un  homme 
de  cabinet."!' 

The  third  intimate  question  for  Sainte-Beuve  is,  "Comment  se 
comportait  ...  il  sur  Particle  des  femmes?"  Sainte-Beuve  esteemed 
this  an  important  question,  the  answer  to  which  revealed  more  of  the 
man's  personaUty  than  either  of  the  preceding  philosophic  queries. 
It  chimed  in  with  his  practical  bent,  and  then,  besides,  it  expressed  some- 
thing very  influential  in  his  thinking;  he  had  what  amounted  to  an 
obsession  on  some  aspects  of  the  sex  question.  His  subconscious,  and, 
for  the  matter  of  that,  his  superconscious,  opinion  was  that  men  are 
loose  when  they  are  not  licentious  in  matters  of  sex,  and  women  but 
little  better.  As  a  matter  of  course  he  discusses  in  a  man's  life-history 
his  loves  proper  and  those  ilUcit,  and  when  he  comes  upon  a  man  who 
has  had  no  illicit  love  affairs  of  the  kind  that  he  was  most  interested  in 
he  remarks  upon  the  fact  with  disappointed  astonishment.  Such  a  case 
is  that  of  Joubert,  whose  love  for  Mme  de  Beaumont  was  of  the  kind  and 
degree  known  as  Platonic,  but  which  Sainte-Beuve  regarded  as  most 

» Ihid.,  V,  180.        » Ihid.,  VII,  400.        3  md.,  XI,  179.        ^  IhU.,  XV,  403. 

^Ihid.,  VI,  416;  Portraits  Utter  aires,  II,  iii. 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  417;  I,  368.  '  Ihid.,  XI,  46-47* 

8/6i^.,  I,  368,  461;  111,89;  XI,  48. 

^Nouveaux  lundis,  XIII,  413. 


128    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

potent  in  its  influence  upon  the  character  of  Joubert.^  A  similar  case 
was  that  of  Vauvenargues,  who  was  constantly  irritated  by  the  refusal 
of  women  to  remain  on  a  plane  of  friendship:  "Les  femmes  ne  peuvent 
comprendre,  dit-il,  qu'il  y  ait  des  hommes  desinteresses  a  leur  egard."" 
Nor  did  Saint-Simon,  young-old  man  that  he  was,  ever  enjoy  feminine 
society  .3  These  are  the  kind  of  men  that  surprised  and  baffled  Sainte- 
Beuve;  most  of  those  whom  he  discussed  were  influenced  by  women — 
some  of  them  by  many  women;  the  currents  of  the  lives  of  many  of 
them  had  been  altered  by  their  experiences  in  love.  In  half  the  biographi- 
cal essays  these  relations  of  men  and  women  are  studied;  there  is  the 
essay  on  Chaulieu  who  had  several  mistresses,''  each  of  whom  was 
influential,  and  those  on  the  various  kings  of  France,  Louis  XIV,s 
Francois  I,  and  Henri  IV.^  The  instance  of  Roederer  is  interesting,  the 
feminine  influence  here  being  of  a  different  sort: 

Les  femmes  jouerent  toujours  un  grand  r61e  dans  la  pensee  de  Roederer; 
il  les  aimait  ...  pour  leur  esprit,  pour  leur  conversation,  pour  le  charme  qu'elles 
mettaient  dans  la  societe,  et  pour  la  part  de  culture  qu'elles  apporterent  dans 
le  formation  de  la  langue.^ 

Retz  "etait  extremement  libertin,"*  Rivarol  married  but  separated  from 
his  wife,  took  with  him  in  his  travels  a  certain  "  Manette,  qui  joue  un 
certain  role  dans  sa  vie  intime";  Sainte-Beuve  says  he  speaks  of  this 
Manette  to  show  "comment  Rivarol  n'avait  point  dans  ses  mceurs 
toute  la  gravite  qui  convient  a  ceux  qui  defendent  si  hautement  les 
principes  primordiaux  de  la  societe,"  etc.**  He  follows  with  interest 
the  marital  difficulties  of  La  Harpe^°  and  the  amorous  intrigues  of 
Patru."  The  history  of  Hegesippe  Moreau  was  different;  he  had  had 
a  first  love,  "une  soeur,"  as  he  called  her,  who  retained  his  image  pure 
and  clean  in  her  heart,  and  remained  always  to  him  a  reminder  of  his 
old  and  better  self,  though  she  could  not  stay  long  with  him  to  prevent 
his  becoming  embittered  with  life.    He  needed  a  woman's  influence: 

II  lui  fallait,  comme  a  tous  les  poetes  doux  et  faibles,  sauvages  et  timides, 
tendres  et  reconnaissants,  il  lui  aurait  fallu  une  femme,  une  soeur,  une  mere, 
qui  melee  et  confundue  avec  I'amante,  I'etit  dispense  de  tout,  hormis  de  chanter, 
d'aimer  et  de  r^ver." 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  163.  Joubert's  supposed  Puritanism  has  recently  been 
disproved  by  A.  Beaunier.  i 

^  lUd.,  Ill,  139.  ^  Ibid.,  VII,  436;  VIII,  400. 

3  Ibid.,  XV,  430.  7  Ibid.,  VIII,  387.  "  Ibid.,  p.  107. 

4  Ibid.,  1,  466.  8  Ibid.,  V,  43.  "  Ibid.,  p.  279. 

5  Ibid.,  Ill,  451  Q.  9  lUd.,  p.  77.  "  Ibid.,  IV,  S4,  61. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  129 

Another  of  the  questions  the  answer  to  which  Sainte-Beuve  con- 
siders revelatory  of  character  and  experience  is,  "Comment  se  com- 
portait-il  sur  I'article  de  I'argent?  £tait-il  riche  ?  Etait-il  pauvre  ?  " 
But  he  himself  discussed  this  matter  in  very  few  cases;  there  is  a  matter 
of  only  twenty-five  essays  in  which  he  handles  it  at  all.  In  the  Talley- 
rand he  says: 

L'argent  tint  de  tout  temps  la  plus  grande  place  dans  les  preoccupations 
de  M.  de  Talleyrand.  Et  puisque  j'y  suis,  je  ne  me  refuserai  pas  de  couler  a  fond 
cet  article  de  cupidite  honteuse  dent  le  personnage  politique  en  lui  a  tant 
souffert,  et  s'est  trouve  si  atteint,  si  gate  au  coeur  et  veritablement  aviU.^ 

Then  follows  a  study  of  this  passion  with  anecdotes  to  illustrate  the 
points.  He  describes  the  ruses  to  which  need  of  money  may  drive  an 
artist:  "L'argent  tourmentait  beaucoup  Bernis,"  who  was  driven  to 
many  subterfuges  to  obtain  the  money  he  needed  for  his  distinguished 
social  duties.^  Malherbe  was  a  cautious  bourgeois  in  money  matters,^ 
and  of  Raynouard  "on  disait  qu'il  etait  tres  parcimonieux,"^  but  he 
was  very  Uberal  to  his  own  family.  More  than  once  he  notes  that  lack 
of  money  produced  certain  traits  of  character  and  conditioned  experi- 
ence, as  in  the  case,  once  more,  of  Moreau,  who  was  embittered  by 
poverty:  "Moreau  ressentait  vivement  les  tortures  secretes  de  cette 
pauvrete  que  La  Bruyere  a  si  bien  peinte,  et  qui  rend  I'homme  honteux, 
de  peur  d'etre  ridicule,  "s 

Sainte-Beuve  would  have  the  critic  discover  and  present  the  personal 
appearance,  the  physical  presence,  of  his  subject,  with  his  state  of  health, 
his  daily  regime,  and  he  himself  takes  pains  to  do  this  for  his  own  sub- 
jects, especially  in  those  cases  where  there  was  something  unusual  or 
anything  that  was  likely  to  react  upon  the  mental  life.  For  example, 
the  Abbe  GaUani  was  not  more  than  four  feet  and  a  half  in  height,  with 
"un  petit  corps  tres  bien  taille  et  tres  joli,  ce  n'etait  qu'esprit,  grace, 
sailUe  et  sel  pur,"  and  at  the  same  time  so  wise  and  so  learned  as  to  merit 
the  name  of  Harlequin-Plato;^  Mirabeau  "etait  d'une  atroce  laideur," 
pock-marked  and  broad-faced,  but  with  beautiful  eyes  and  an  immense 
and  abounding  physical  force ;'  Benjamin  Constant  "etait  un  beau 
grand  jeune  homme,  d'un  blond  hardi,  muscadin,  a  Fair  candide,"  etc.;* 
the  feminine  prettiness  of  the  Abbe  de  Choisy  contributed  largely  to 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  XII,  54.  s  Ihid.,  IV,  57. 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  17.  ^  Ibid.,  II,  421. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  XIII,  394.  7  Ibid.,  IV,  4. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  21.  ^  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  415. 


I30    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

making  him  effeminate;^  he  discusses  the  personal  appearance  of  Retz,* 
Le  Brun-Pindar,3  Stendhal,^  Saint-Martin,^  not  to  mention  others,  for 
indeed  he  rarely  neglects  this  point. 

At  times  the  bad  health  of  the  author  reacts  upon  his  work,  as 
in  the  case  of  Moreau,  whose  sickness  and  physical  misery  left  him  des 
douloureux  souvenirs^  reflected  in  his  verse.^  This  had  something  to 
do  with  Pope's  poetry  also,^  with  the  social  and  reUgious  philosophy  of 
Saint-Martin.^  It  is  needless  to  cite  more  instances,  as  they  are  to  be 
found  in  almost  all  the  biographical  essays. 

Sainte-Beuve  very  often  has  something  to  tell  his  readers  concerning 
the  habits,  the  personal  regimen,  of  his  subject,  his  manilre  journali^re  de 
vivre.  He  esteemed  such  matters  very  illuminating  and  is  fond  of  the 
anecdote  that  records  details  of  habit  and  personal  peculiarities. '  Most 
of  the  critics  of  Sainte-Beuve  have  noted  and  emphasized  this.  He 
notes,  for  example,  that  Michaud  never  cleaned  his  nails:  "II  les  avait 
fort  noires  les  ongles";^'*  he  tells  of  Magnin  that  he  used  to  put  his  grand- 
mother to  bed  at  a  certain  hour  every  night.  He  tells  anecdotes  of 
Chateaubriand  that  would  leave  his  admirer  no  shred  of  illusion." 
Worth  quoting  is  this,  "qu'on  me  permette  k  ce  propos  une  remarque 
sur  le  regime  et  la  diete  de  Bernis;  ce  regime  n'etait  pas  ce  qu'on  pourrait 
croire."  Though  he  had  a  very  good  cook  and  fed  his  guests  very  well, 
he  himself  "ne  mangeait  que  des  petits  plats  de  legumes.""  La  Harpe's 
gourmandise  is  described,^^  and  also  what  Mme  Mere  du  Regent  liked  to 
eat,  sausages  and  sauerkraut,  as  it  happened,^''  and  Talleyrand's  regimen 
is  given  in  detail.^s  An  interesting  instance  is  that  of  the  Countess  of 
Albany .^^  Examples  of  this  nature  can  be  enumerated  almost  without 
end,  but  it  is  not  worth  while  merely  to  multiply  them  when  it  is  clear 
that  Sainte-Beuve  fulfilled  his  own  requirements  in  respect  to  showing 
the  manner  of  the  daily  Ufe  of  his  subject.^?  His,  indeed,  was  a  gossip- 
ing, human  sort  of  a  mind.    He  delighted  in  these  realistic  anecdotes, 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  428.  s  Ibid.,  X,  244. 

'  Ibid.,  V,  43.  ^  Ibid.,  IV,  59. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  145.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  VIII,  109. 

*  Ibid.,  IX,  341.  *  Causeries  du  lundi,  X,  244. 

'  Babbitt,  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism,  p.  182. 
"  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  486. 
"  Saintsbury,  History  of  Criticism,  III,  182. 

"  Causeries  du  lundi,  VIII,  49.  ^^  Nouveaux  lundis,  XII,  125. 

»3  Ibid.,  V,  135.  '^  Ibid.,  V,  437- 

'4  Ibid.,  DC,  43.  »7  Cf.  supra,  p.  38. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  131 

and  one  may  fairly  wonder  if  he  were  always  conscious  of  a  critical 
purpose  when  he  was  retelling  them. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  there  are  several  questions  to  be  espe- 
cially applied  to  women.  Concerning  any  woman  to  be  studied  the 
critic  should  ask,  Was  she  pretty  ?  Was  she  ever  in  love  ?  If  she  was 
religious,  what  was  the  determining  motive  of  her  conversion?^  In 
the  large  majority  of  his  essays  on  women  Sainte-Beuve  himself  answers 
the  first  two  of  these  questions,  and  occasionally  he  answers  all  three, 
as  in  the  case  of  Mme  Swetchine,^  but  he  rarely  does  more  with  the  third 
question  than  to  say  perfunctorily  that  she  was  a  devout  Catholic,  or 
a  sincere  Protestant,  or  had  no  religion.  Of  descriptions  of  personal 
appearance  there  are  many:  "On  se  demande  d'abord  de  Mme  de 
Motteville,  comme  de  toute  femme,  si  elle  etait  belle,  et  il  parait  bien 
qu'elle  retait";^  this  seems  definitely  to  indicate  that  Sainte-Beuve 
always  intended  to  ask  this  question  about  every  woman  he  chose  to 
study.  Other  examples  are  those  of  Mile  de  La  Valliere,^  Adrienne 
Lecouvreur,5  Mme  de  Latour-Franqueville,^  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,^  Mme  de 
VerdeHn,^  Mme  Dacier,^  Marie  Antoinette,"  Mme  Recamier" — these 
are  a  few  among  the  many  that  might  be  cited.  As  to  the  second  prob- 
lem in  which  Sainte-Beuve  especially  delighted,  he  practically  always 
attempts  to  answer,  when  he  is  writing  of  a  woman,  the  question 
whether  or  not  she  was  ever  in  love.  Examples  are  in  the  essays  on  Mme 
Swetchine,"  on  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  whom  he  follows  through  two  different 
love  affairs,^3  on  Mme  d'Epinay,  who  loved  Francueil  and  later  Grimm,'^ 
on  Mme  Recamier.^s  He  makes  much  of  the  women  who  have  been  mis- 
tresses— Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  Mme  de  Maintenon,  Ninon  de  L^Enclos, 
Mile  de  Lespinasse — the  Hst  is  lengthy.  As  to  the  last  question.  What 
was  the  determining  motive  of  a  woman's  conversion?  we  have  said 
already  that  he  considered  this  in  only  a  few  cases;  two  are  worth  citing, 
Joseph  de  Maistre's  conversion  of  Mme  Swetchine  which  Sainte- 
Beuve  says  "est  devenue  litterairement  un  fait  eclatant,"^^  and  that  of 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  213.  '  Causeries  du  lundi,  IX,  512. 

'  Ibid.  "  Nouveaux  lundis,  X,  343. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  172.  "  Ibid.,  Ill,  13,  etc. 

4  Ibid.,  Ill,  453.  "  Ibid.,  I,  213. 

s  Ibid.,  I,  203.     .  ^3  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  125  ff. 

^  Ibid.,  II,  69.  ^4  Ibid.,  II,  200. 

'  Ibid.,  VIII,  403.  ^5  Nouveaux  lundis.  III,  89. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  IX,  411.  ^^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  82. 


132     SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

Mme  Dacier  and  her  husband,  who  embraced  Cathohcism  from  motives 
of  expediency  and  were  suitably  rewarded  by  Louis  XIV.^ 

There  can  be  no  question  of  Sainte-Beuve's  own  use  of  his  advice 
that  the  critic  should  gather  the  testimony  of  a  man's  contemporaries 
as  to  his  character  and  conduct.  He  scarcely  ever  overlooks  or  neglects 
this  process.  In  fully  three-fourths  of  the  essays  which  permitted 
this  procedure  he  uses  it.  Indeed  this  recording  of  contemporary 
testimony  is  so  well  known  as  a  fundamental  characteristic  of  Sainte- 
Beuve  that  one  need  only  give  references  to  a  few  passages  in  which  it 
is  effectively  applied.^ 

The  principle  that  a  man  should  be  studied  in  his  Uterary  descend- 
ants, his  artistic  children,  Sainte-Beuve  uses  rarely.  However,  a 
few  striking  cases  are  at  hand,  first  as  to  Musset,  Malherbe,  and  Rous- 
seau. M.  de  Musset  has  a  host  of  imitators,  who  copy  what  imitators 
usually  copy — ^form,  surface,  the  "smart"  tone,  the  sprightly  gesture, 
the  dashing  faults,  things  which  he  himself  might  be  able  to  carry  off 
with  a  certain  ease,^  they  laboriously  copy.  They  imitate  his  vocabulary, 
they  repeat  the  names  of  his  girls — Manon,  Ninon,  Marion — his  jingle 
of  courtiers  and  marquises.  They  took  the  form  and  the  bad  habit;  but 
the  fire,  the  passion,  the  elevation,  and  the  lyrical  power  they  could  not 
borrow  from  him.4  One  can  detect  the  large  amount  of  criticism  of 
Musset  which  Sainte-Beuve  managed  to  pack  into  this  passage,  con- 
cerned ostensibly  only  with  his  school  of  imitators.  Similarly  the  dis- 
ciples of  Malherbe  (Racan  and  Maynard)  are  examined  as  exhibiting 
the  merits  and  defects  of  their  master.^  Concerning  the  relationship 
of  Rousseau  with  Lamennais,  Sainte-Beuve  says  that  passages  in  the 
Songe  du  philosophe  of  Rousseau  recall  to  him  passages  in  Les  paroles 
d'un  croyanty  "II  n'y  a  rien  la  qui  doive  etonner;  le  maitre,  comme  par 
anticipation,  s'est  mis  cette  fois  a  ressembler  au  disciple:  cela  arrive 
parfois  aux  maitres.  Rien  ne  ressemble  a  du  mauvais  ou  a  du  mediocre 
Rousseau  comme  du  bon  Lamennais."*'  He  calls  the  authors  of  comedies, 
proverbes  and  spectacles  dans  un  fauteuil,  disciples  of  Marivaux:  "lis 
ont  reconnu  en  Marivaux  un  aine  sinon  un  maitre,  et  lui  ont  rendu  plus 
d'un  hommage  en  le  rappelant  ou  en  I'imitant";'  he  passes  in  review 
the  imitators  of  Chapelle  and  Bachaumont(Bouflers,  Bertin,  and  others), 

*  Causeries  du  lundi,  IX,  485. 

^Ibid.,  I,  199,  393;  II»  191,  400,  423;  III,  292;  VIII,  131;  XV,  167;  Nouveaux 
lundis,  I,  203;  V,  395,  etc. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  305;  V,  382. 

4  Ibid.,  I,  305.        5  Ibid.,  VIII,  69  ff.        « Ibid.,  XV,  236.        » Ibid.,  IX,  379. 


I 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  133 

saying:  *'Ils  ont  tous  cela  de  commun,  de  ne  pas  prendre  la  nature  au 
serieux,  et  de  ne  la  regarder  en  sortant  du  cabaret  ou  du  salon  que  pour 
y  mettre  une  grimace  et  de  I'enluminure "  ;^  Pontmartin's  impoliteness 
and  excess  are  reflected  in  a  disciple  of  his,  and  he  would  be  much 
embarrassed  by  ''des  grossieretes  de  style  de  ce  marquis-la."^  Poetry 
in  1852,  Sainte-Beuve  says,  is  too  much  given  to  imitation;  it  is  easy 
to  adopt  the  externals  of  a  poet's  manner,  but  then  one  is  only  a  copyist: 
"On  I'etait,  il  y  a  quinze  et  vingt  ans,  lorsqu'on  ramassait  dans  ses  vers 
les  epis  tombes  des  gerbes  de  Lamartine;  on  Test  aujourd'hui  quand 
on  ramasse  les  bouts  de  cigares  d' Alfred  de  Musset."^ 

In  Sainte-Beuve's  program  for  the  biographical  critic  comes  a  very 
important  step,  that  of  summing  up  the  author  and  placing  him  in 
his  family  of  minds,  applying  to  him  his  "appellation  vraie  et  necessaire."^ 
All  the  examples  of  his  application  of  this  rule  are  not  so  clear  and  true 
to  type  as  that  in  the  Chateaubriand  article,  where  this  master  is  called 
the  prototype  of  his  own  Rene,5  but  they  are  numerous  and  recognizable. 
The  citation  of  a  few  will  suffice:  M.  de  Feletz  "me  representait  en 
perfection  le  galant  homme  litteraire "  ;^  Etienne  Pasquier  is  "un 
judicieux  tempere  d'aimable";'  Montaigne  is  "notre  Horace";^ 
La  Fontaine  is  "notre  veritable  Homere,  THomere  des  Frangais,  qui  le 
croirait  ?  c'est  La  Fontaine" ;''  Carrel  is  "le  Junius  de  la  presse  frangaise." 
Jasmin  "me  parait  une  sorte  de  Manzoni  languedocien " ;"  Halevy  "^ 
le  definir  poetiquement,  je  dirais:  C'etait  une  abeille  qui  n'avait  pas 
trouve  a  se  loger  completement  dans  sa  ruche,  et  qui  etait  en  quete  de 
faire  son  miel  quelque  part  ailleurs";"  Gourville  is  "le  type  le  plus 
complet  et  le  plus  parfait  de  I'homme  d'affaires "  ;^3  the  Due  d'Antin  is 
"  le  parfait  courtisan  "  ;^4  Stendhal  is  named  "  un  hussard  romantique  "  ;^s 
Bossuet  "c'est  le  genie  hebreu,  etendu,  feconde  par  le  Christianisme " ;^^ 
the  role  of  M.  Denne-Baron  is  summed  up  thus:  "II  a  ete  un  pre- 
curseur."^7  Other  summaries  are  not  so  epigrammatic  in  tone  and  deal 
rather  more  with  qualities  and  habits  of  mind.    Two  will  be  enough  to 

^  Ihid.,  XI,  50. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  14.  "  Ibid.,  VI,  127. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  387.  "  Ibid.,  IV,  322. 

4  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  22.  "  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  243. 

s  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  452.  ^^  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  360. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  371.  ^^Ibid.,  p.  479. 

V  Ibid.,  Ill,  268.  ^5  ibid.^  IX,  303. 

nbid.,  IV,  95.  '^  Ibid.,  X,iSi. 

9  Ibid.,  VII,  519.  ^7  Ibid.,  p.  384. 


134    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

show  the  tone  of  these.  Of  Adrienne  Lecouvreur  he  says  that  her 
"principal  merite,  au  theatre  comme  dans  la  vie,  a  ete  d'etre  la  verit6, 
la  nature,  le  contraire  de  la  declamation  meme.  Ces  simples  mots 
resument  le  caractere  de  Mile  Lecouvreur";^  and  finally  as  to  Leconte 
de  Lisle:  "C'est  un  contemplatif  arme  de  couleurs  et  de  sons,  mais  las 
et  ennuye  du  spectacle  m^me,  comme  si  regarder  etait  deja  trop  accorder 
a  Paction."^  As  may  be  seen,  some  of  these  judgments  and  summaries 
are  mere  implications  and  adumbrations,  but  the  literary  phraseology 
does  not  conceal  their  real  nature. 

This  placing  of  the  author  in  his  category  or  his  class  is  largely 
determined  by  two  things,  the  discovery  of  his  famille  d^esprits  and  the 
isolation  of  his  trait  saillant  or  his  faculte  maitresse.  It  is  necessary  to 
distinguish  between  the  trait  saillant,  the  faculty  maitresse,  and  the 
passion  maitresse  or  dominante.^  It  seems  to  be  a  matter  of  degree;  the 
exaggeration  of  the  trait  saillant  leads  to  its  becoming  the  facultS  maitresse 
and  the  exaggeration  to  the  point  of  madness  of  the  faculte  maitresse 
leads  to  its  becoming  the  passion  maitresse,  which  is  no  longer  under 
control.  An  example  or  two  of  each  will  suffice.  The  trait  saillant  of 
Louis  XIV  was  le  bon  sens,^  in  Montluc  it  was  the  love  of  arms  and  war ,5 
in  Raynouard  it  was  the  fact  that  he  came  from  the  south  of  France,*^ 
Hamilton  was  above  all  an  observer.'  The  faculte  maitresse  is  the  exag- 
geration of  the  trait  saillant.  Sainte-Beuve,  being  the  student  of  char- 
acter, the  analyst,  rather  than  the  historian  of  action,  preferred  to  deal 
with  the  dominant  trait  while  it  still  was  a  quaUty  of  character  rather 
than  a  principle  of  action.  Therefore  we  find  many  studies  of  facultis 
maitr esses  and  fewer  of  passions  maitr esses.  The  faculte  maitresse  of 
Marie  Antoinette  in  her  last  days  resolved  itself  into  mother-love,  the 
determining  motive  of  her  every  action;^  Horace  Vernet  had  a  genius 
for  painting  and  could  not  have  helped  being  an  artist  even  though  he 
had  struggled  against  it;^  MoUere  started  in  the  theater  when  he  was 
the  merest  child:  "La  vocation  I'emporte,  et  le  demon  fait  rage  en  lui 
pour  ne  plus  cesser,  ...  le  theatre  avait  besoin  de  lui,  et  il  avait  besoin 
du  theatre.""  Racine's  leaning  toward  the  theater  did  indeed  pass  over 
from  a  dominant  trait  into  a  passion  maitresse.^^  .  The  factdti  maitresse 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  220. 

'  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  249.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  96. 

3  See  supra,  p.  41.  « Ibid.,  IV,  342. 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  314.  »  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  43. 

5  Ibid.,  XI,  56.  «>  Ibid.,  p.  270. 

« Ibid.,  V,  2.  "  Ibid.,  Ill,  59- 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  135 

of  Mme  de  Genlis  was  pedagogy:  "Le  gout  d'enseigner  ne  doit  point 
se  considerer  chez  elle  comme  un  travers,  c'etait  le  fond  meme  et  la 
direction  de  sa  nature";^  Rigault  too  '^etait  ne  professeur;  il  etait  la 
conune  chez  lui,  il  y  allait  comme  on  va  a  la  danse";^  Eugene  Gandar 
also  shared  this  call  to  be  a  teacher.^  Fontenelle  shared  one  thing 
with  his  great  kinsman  Corneille,  intelligence:  "Or,  dans  Fontenelle, 
cette  partie  d'esprit  pur  et  de  bel-esprit  sans  aucun  reste  de  chaleur 
composa  tout  rhomme";^  as  for  Mile  de  Lespinasse:  "Ainsi  tout  pour 
elle  se  rapporte  a  la  passion,  tout  I'y  ramene,  et  c'est  la  passion  seule 
qui  donne  la  clef  de  ce  cceur  etrange  et  de  cette  destinee  si  combattue'*;^ 
and  Bourdaloue  felt  inclined  to  the  priesthood  from  his  infancy:  *'Le 
merite  de  Bourdaloue  s'annonja  des  I'enfance."^  A  striking  instance 
of  the  self-determination  of  a  man's  category  Sainte-Beuve  finds  in 
Piron,  who  was,  he  says,  a  sort  of  machine  for  making  epigrams:  "Talle- 
mant  portait  des  anecdotes,  Petrarque  distillait  des  sonnets.  La  Fontaine 
poussait  des  fables,  Piron  eternuait  des  epigrammes — eternuer,  c'etait 
son  mot  a  lui.  Eh  bien!  on  ne  retient  pas  un  eternument."?  Sainte- 
Beuve's  interest  and  faith  in  the  faculte  maitresse  are  testified  to  by  the 
fact  that  in  about  half  of  the  essays  on  persons  he  isolates  and  discusses 
this  quaUty,  generally  using  it  to  place  the  person  in  the  group  or  class 
to  which  he  belongs.  Of  the  passion  maitresse  which  amounts  to  obses- 
sion Sainte-Beuve  cites  several  examples  in  giving  his  and  Pope's 
theory*  but  finds  no  occasion  to  study  extensively  this  aspect  of  madness 
in  any  of  the  writers  he  takes  up. 

Of  the  conception  of  families  of  minds  Sainte-Beuve  does  not  make 
so  frequent  or  so  practical  a  use.  It  is  not  an  idea  that  admits  of  scien- 
tific or  even  definite  delimitations.  It  was  indeed  something  that,  while 
it  was  very  real,  remained  a  bit  mystic  and  intangible.  Still  Sainte- 
Beuve  had  it  in  his  consciousness,  and  again  and  again  it  rises  above  the 
threshold  to  figure  in  the  analysis  of  the  person  under  consideration. 
We  have  a  few  instances  in  which  he  definitely  assigns  a  man  to  his 
famille  d^esprits.  Renan,  for  example,  is  given  a  place  in  the  ranks  of 
the  high  intelligences,  among  the  Montesquieus,  the  Buffons,  the 
Rousseaus  of  the  French  nature  rather  than  among  the  Chaulieus,  the 
Pirons,  the  Voltaires,  assigning  the  one  group  to  the  GalHc,  the  other  to 
the  Celtic,  strain:    "Dans  un  pays  comme  la  France,  il  importe  qu'il 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  37.  s  Ibid.,  II,  141. 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  259.  ^  Ibid.,  IX,  264. 

3  Ibid.,  XII,  341.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  409. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  316.  *  Ibid.,  VIII,  129. 


136     SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

vienne  de  temps  en  temps  des  intelligences  elevees  et  serieuses  qui  fassent 
contrepoids  a  I'esprit  malin,  moqueur,  sceptique,  incredule,  du  fonds  de 
la  race;  et  M.  Renan  est  une  de  ces  intelligences."^  The  distinction  in 
French  literature  between  the  Gaulois  strain  and  the  other,  which  he 
sometimes  called  the  Celtic  strain,  he  recurs  to  in  other  places.  Of  the 
opposite  family  to  Renan  is  Beranger,  assigned  to  la  race  gauloise: 
**  Voyez  Voltaire,  Moliere,  La  Fontaine,  et  Rabelais  et  Villon  ses  aieux."^ 
Saint  Evremond  "nous  represente  toute  une  race  de  voluptueux  dis- 
tingues  et  disparus,  qui  n'ont  laisse  qu'un  nom:  M.  de  Cramail,  Mitton, 
M.  de  Treville;  mais  il  est  plus  complet  que  pas  un."^  There  remains 
the  case  of  Cowper: 

II  faut  reconnaitre  les  diverses  families  d'esprits  et  de  talents.  ...  Cowper 
est  le  poete  de  la  famille,  quoiqu'il  n'ait  ete  ni  epoux  ni  pere.  ...  Les  poetes 
ourageux  et  hardis  comme  Byron,  les  natures  mondaines  et  vives  comme  Thomas 
Moore  ou  HazUtt  devaient  assez  peu  I'aimer,"  etc* 

This  completes  the  examination  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  practice 
as  concerns  those  biographical,  as  it  were  biological,  dicta  which  he  formu- 
lated for  the  typical  procedure  of  the  critic  who  would  make  a  scientific 
approach  to  his  subject.  We  have  seen  that  while  he  did  not  consistently 
and  constantly  apply  all  the  precepts  in  any  one  essay,  he  had  them  con- 
stantly in  mind,  and  in  specific  cases  he  found  in  one  or  more  of  these 
formulae,  these  avenues  of  approach,  the  road  into  the  very  heart  of  his 
subject. 

It  remains  to  investigate  Sainte-Beuve's  practice  in  the  aesthetic, 
the  artistic,  the  Hterary  treatment  of  a  subject.  The  principles  upon 
which  he  himself  says  that  a  judgment  should  be  based  have  been  drawn 
together  from  his  own  work;  these  fundamental  universal  principles 
are  taste,  truth,  tradition,  logic,  consistency,  and,  occupying  a  minor 
and  by  no  means  so  stable  a  place,  morality.^ 

But  before  examining  his  practice  it  would  perhaps  be  well  to  find 
an  answer  to  the  question,  Does  Sainte-Beuve  render  judgments,  does 
he  habitually  or  often  give  or  adumbrate  a  final  appraisement^  or  advance 
an  absolute  evaluation?  Seeking  an  answer  to  this  question  we  will 
divide  the  essays  into  three  groups  on  somewhat  arbitrary  fines: 
(i)  essays  dealing  with  periods  or  epochs,  such  as  *'De  la  critique  Ht- 
teraire  sous  Tempire,"?  "De  la  poesie  en  1865";*  (2)  articles  devoted  to 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  399.  '  See  supra,  pp.  54  ff. 

"  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  291.  *  See  supra,  pp.  46  ff. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  XIII,  455.  '  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  60. 

<  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  186.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  X,  113. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  137 

the  life  and  works  of  one  man,  which  constitute  the  large  mass  of  Sainte- 
Beuve's  work  and  compose  his  characteristic  production;  (3)  essays 
dealing  with  a  single  work,  such  as  those  on  Flaubert's  Madame  Bovary 
and  Salammbo  and  on  Feuillet's  SibylleJ- 

That  he  considers  it  possible  to  pass  final  judgment  on  an  entire 
age  is  witnessed  by  the  fact  that  in  studying  the  "Mai  de  Rene"  he 
says  that  there  are  times  when  a  whole  age  suffers  from  some  such 
spiritual  malady,  and  he  calls  Baudelaire's  sadness  "le  dernier  sympt6me 
d'une  generation  malade."^  Three  other  sweeping  judgments  are  strik- 
ing: one  on  the  seventeenth  century,  the  eloquent  passage  beginning, 
"Saluons  et  reconnaissons  aujourd'hui  la  noble  et  forte  harmonie  du 
grand  siecle,"^  and  leading  up  to  the  domination  of  Boileau  in  the  Htera- 
ture  of  the  age ;  the  second  passage  is  his  comprehensive  summary  of  the 
realism  of  Flaubert  and  Zola,  pointing  out  its  faults  and  shortcomings, 
condemning  it  on  the  grounds  that  it  provides  no  place  for  transcending 
facts  and  therefore  fails  to  be  art;^  and,  finally,  his  opinion  on  the  state 
of  poetry  in  1852,  saying  that  there  is  plenty  of  intelligence  and  skill 
but  no  inspiration. s 

Conclusive  and  apparently  final  judgments  upon  persons,  individual 
authors,  or  thinkers  are  common  enough.  A  few  of  the  most  interesting 
examples  will  indicate  the  scope  and  certainty  of  Sainte-Beuve's  judg- 
ments. Two  occur  on  Beranger :  "  Pour  ne  pas  abuser  des  termes,  Byron, 
Milton,  Pindare  restent  seule  les  vraiment  grands  poetes,  et  Beranger 
n'esi  qu'un  poete  charmant.  Telle  est  ma  conviction,  que  je  viens  de  me 
confirmer  a  moi  par  une  entiere  lecture";^  and  the  other:  "Resume! 
Beranger,  comme  poete,  est  un  des  plus  grands,  non  le  plus  grand  de 
notre  age  ...  dans  cette  perfection  tant  celebree,  il  entre  aussi  bien  du 
melange.  Compare  aux  poetes  d'autrefois,  il  est  du  groupe  second  et 
encore  si  rare  des  Burns,  des  Horace,  des  La  Fontaine";  but  they  are 
higher  in  rank  than  he  is  because  they  never  gave  themselves  over  to 
merely  partisan  feeling.?  His  summary  of  Rousseau  contains  both 
praise  and  blame: 

Je  n'ai  pu  indiquer  qu'en  courant  dans  I'auteur  des  Confessions  les  grands 
cotes  par  lesquels  il  demeure  un  maitre,  que  saluer  cette  fois  le  createur  de  la 
reverie,  celui  qui  nous  a  inocule  le  sentiment  de  la  nature  et  le  sens  de  la  reaUte, 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XIII,  346;  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  31;  V,  i. 

'  Carres pondance,  I,  220.  s  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  399. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  511.  ^  Ibid.,  II,  298. 

4  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  136.  '  Ibid.,  p.  305. 


138    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

le  pere  de  la  Ktterature  d'intime  et  de  la  peinture  d'interieure.  Quel  dommage 
que  Torgueil  misanthropique  s'y  mele,  et  que  des  tons  cyniques  fassent  tache 
au  milieu  de  tant  de  beautes  charmantes  et  solides."^ 

The  judgments  on  George  Sand,  Merimee,  Eugene  Sue,  and  Dumas 
pirCy  comparing  them  collectively  and  individually  with  Balzac  and 
pronouncing  their  real  valuation  in  the  Hterary  history  of  the  future, 
are  to  the  point.^  So  also  is  the  appraisement  of  Malherbe  as  a  poet 
who  just  missed  being  great:  "Nous  nous  sommes  convaincus  que  ce 
bon  sens  pratique  n'avait  qu'a  s'appliquer  a  de  dignes  objets  pour  se 
conciHer  avec  la  grandeur";  he  failed  in  this  respect,  but  in  others  he 
was  un  vrai  mattre?  Rollin  is  put  in  his  proper  perspective — he  makes 
no  appeal  to  our  scientific  generation,  for  we  demand  a  medium  of  expres- 
sion quite  different  from  his  and  "celui  du  bon  Rollin,  certes,y  echouerait. 
...  Dans  tout  ceci,  en  ressongeant  au  bon  RolUn  dont  le  nom  revient 
encore  par  un  reste  d'habitude,  je  crois  qu'il  est  impossible  d'en  faire 
autre  chose  qu'un  honorable,  un  pieux  et  lointain  regret.  "^  La  Touche 
is  set  up  as  an  awful  example  of  the  fate  of  the  virulent  critic;  all  his 
real  merits  are  hidden  by  his  violence.^    Paul  Louis  Courier 

n'etait  pas  un  tres-grand  caractere,  nous  le  verrons;  je  dirai  meme  tout  d'abord 
que  ce  n'etait  pas  un  esprit  tres-etendu  ni  tres-complet  dans  ses  points  de  vue. 
II  voit  bien,  mais  par  parties;  il  a  de  vives  idees,  mais  elles  ne  sont  ni  tres- 
variees  ni  tres-abondantes:  cela  devient  tres-sensible  quand  on  le  lit  de  suite 
et  dans  sa  continuite.^ 

There  is  a  final  appraisement  of  Rivarol:  "II  n'etait  point  un  homme 
de  genie,  mais  c'etait  plus  qu'un  homme  d'esprit:  il  realisait  tout  ^ 
fait  I'ideal  de  I'homme  de  talent,  tel  qu'il  I'a  defini:  *Le  talent,  c'est  un 
art  mele  d'enthousiasme.'  "7  The  Pensies  at  the  end  of  Volume  XI  of 
the  Causeries  du  lundi  are  replete  with  these  completed  judgments, 
too  numerous  to  be  quoted  in  full.    Take  for  an  example  that  on  Ampere: 

Ampere,  comme  erudit,  manque  de  rigueur,  et  comme  ecrivain,  de  couleur. 
Avec  cela,  prenez-le  comme  curieux  et  causant  de  tout,  il  a  bien  de  I'instruction 
et  de  I'agrement.  ...  Tout  le  feu  d'Ampere  se  passe  dans  la  recherche,  et  il  ne 
lui  en  reste  rien  pour  I'execution.    En  cela,  il  n'est  pas  artiste.* 

Barbier  does  not  understand  his  own  talent:  "II  s'y  noye  ...  ce  qui  me 
fait  dire  de  lui:  'Barbier,  c'est  un  poete  de  hasard."^^    There  are  similar 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  97. 

» Ibid.,  II,  460.  <*  Ibid.,  VI,  322. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  XIII,  423.  ^  ibid.,  V,  83. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  281.  *  Ibid.,  XI,  478. 
s  Ibid.,  Ill,  491.  s>  Ibid.,  p.  448. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  139 

appraisals  of  Lamennais,  Barante,  De  Vigny,  Villemain,  Lamartine, 
Genin,  and  notably  of  Thiers  and  Balzac;  about  the  latter  he  is  mali- 
ciously witty:  "Balzac — le  romancier  qui  savait  le  mieux  la  corruption 
de  son  temps,  et  il  etait  meme  homme  a  y  ajouter";^  but  Sainte-Beuve 
admired  him  as  an  artist. 

In  summary  then,  it  is  clear  that  Sainte-Beuve  did  judge  authors, 
did  offer  a  final  appraisement,  and  was  not  always  content  to  rest 
in  his  analysis.  It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  it  is  chiefly  in  the 
cases  of  the  minor  writers  that  he  gives  what  may  accurately  be  called 
a  literary  judgment;  he  took  for  granted  the  positions  and  the  rights  of 
the  real  giants — Goethe,  Shakespeare,  Horace;^  positions  so  permanent 
and  elevated  as  theirs  needed  no  readjustment  from  the  critic. 

When  Sainte-Beuve  says  that  the  critic's  processes  are  based  upon 
the  principles  of  taste,  truth,  tradition,  logic  and  consistency,  and 
morality,  he  did  not  mean,  of  course,  that  he  criticized  first  upon  one  of 
these  principles  and  then  upon  another,  so  that  the  student  of  his  opinion 
could  discriminate  and  say,  "This  judgment  is  based  upon  taste,  this 
upon  tradition,"  etc.  Rather  are  the  elements  of  critical  judgment 
mingled  and  interamalgamated  into  a  unified  whole.  In  these  judg- 
ments which  cover  entire  works  of  art,  or  the  whole  character  of  a  man,  it 
is  the  completely  trained  critical  mind  speaking,  and  one  cannot  isolate 
the  specific  principles  and  criteria,  though  it  is  more  nearly  possible  to 
do  this  when  details  of  matter  and  technique  are  under  judgment.  It 
is,  however,  not  impossible  to  offer  examples  of  judgments  in  which 
approval  or  disapproval  has  a  dominant  flavor  of  taste — ^for  the  matter 
of  that,  certain  exceptional  and  striking  verdicts  may  be  based  entirely 
upon  taste,  certain  others  may  lean  chiefly  upon  tradition,  certain  others 
make  the  appeal  to  truth.  It  is  these  more  unmixed  judgments  that 
are  offered  with  the  warning  that  they  are  seldom  quite  unmixed. 

Again  we  are  following  an  arbitrary  grouping:  (i)  judgments  of 
whole  works  of  art  or  a  man's  work  as  a  whole;  (2)  judgments  of  detail 
or  aspects  of  matter  and  technique. 

Predominantly  based  upon  taste,  though  always  with  tradition  in 
the  background,  is  a  group  of  verdicts  upon  whole  works  of  art. 
The  opinion  on  Flaubert's  Madame  Bovary  is  worth  quoting  because 
posterity  has  largely  confirmed  it: 

Una  qualite  precieuse  distingue  M.  Flaubert  des  autres  observateurs  ...  ila 
le  style.    II  en  a  meme  un  peu  trop,  et  sa  plume  se  complait  a  des  curiosit6s  ... 

'  Ibid.,  p.  483. 

2  See  "  Precepts  and  ProcedeSy^'  pp.  83  ff.  However,  he  leaves  a  very  definite  idea 
as  to  his  opinion  of  Balzac,  who  could  certainly  not  be  classed  as  a  minor  writer. 


140     SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

de  description  continue  qui  nuisent  parfois  a  I'effet  total.  Chez  lui,  les 
choses  ou  les  figures  les  plus  faites  pour  etre  regardees  sont  un  peu  eteintes  ...  par 
le  trop  de  saillie  des  objects  environnants.  Emma  Bovary  elle-meme  ...  nous 
est  si  souvent  decrite  en  detail  et  par  le  menu,  que  physiquement  je  ne  me  la 
represente  pas  tres-bien  dans  son  ensemble  ni  d'une  maniere  bien  distincte  et 
definitive.* 

All  the  persons  in  Madame  Bovary  he  says  are  bad  and  disagreeable, 
displaying  not  one  touch  of  humanity  or  heroism;  he  condemns  in 
the  book  its  mass  of  unnecessary,  disgusting,  and  unnecessarily  disgusting, 
details:  "Apres  tout  un  livre  n'est  pas  la  realite  meme."^  The  same 
author's  Salammho  comes  in  for  substantially  the  same  criticisms, 
summed  up  in  what  amounts  to  a  final  appraisement :  "  On  I'a  [Salammbd] 
beaucoup  lu  et  on  le  lira;  mais  le  relira-t-on?  La  lecture  d'un  roman- 
poeme  doit-elle  produire  sur  nous  le  meme  effet  que  si  Ton  entrait  dans 
un  bataillon  herisse  de  piques  ?  "^  The  book  is  too  difficult  to  read  in  its 
mass  of  details  and  its  inhumanity  of  subject-matter.  Flaubert  by 
way  of  reply  to  this  severe  condemnation  asked  Sainte-Beuve  if  he  was 
sure  that  he  had  not  merely  sufifered  a  nervous  revulsion  from  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  book;4  the  critic  made  no  public  reply  to  this  inquiry,  but 
in  consonance  with  what  he  has  repeatedly  said  elsewhere  we  are  sure 
of  his  saying  in  effect:  "Apres  tout  un  livre  n'est  pas  la  reaHte  meme." 
For  even  though  things  so  revolting  do  exist  in  life,  the  presentation  of 
them  constitutes  a  violation  of  taste,  that  indefinable  perception  of 
unity,  of  simplicity,  of  dignity:  "L'amour  du  sense,  de  I'eleve,  de  ce 
qui  est  grand  sans  phrases."  Elsewhere  he  exclaims  without  qualifica- 
tion: *' Voila  un  bon,  un  excellent  livre. "s  Of  Raynouard's  Templiers: 
II  est  impossible  de  prodiguer  moins  qu'il  ne  I'a  fait  les  moyens  nouveaux, 
et  de  tirer  un  plus  heureux  parti  des  quatre  ou  cinq  mots  ou  hemistiches  qui 
deciderent  du  triomphe  de  sa  piece.  II  avait  ete  econome  de  sublime,  mais, 
du  peu  qu'il  y  avait  mis,  rien  n'avait  ete  perdu.* 

Roucher's  poem  Les  Mois  is  "trop  imbu  des  fadeurs  sentimentales  du 
siecle,"  etc.^  Michelet's  study  of  Louis  XIV  and  Le  Due  de  Bourgogne 
is  marred  by  the  haste  of  his  manner : 

La  narration,  proprement  dite,  qui  n'a  jamais  6t6  son  fort,  est  presque 
tout  sacrifice.  Ne  cherchez  point  de  chaussee  historique,  bien  cimentee, 
soUde  et  continue:  le  parti  pris  des  points  de  vue  absolus  domine;  on  court 

*  Causeries  du  lundi,  XIII,  351. 

'  Ibid.f  p.  360.  5  Ibid.,  I,  315. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  93.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  12. 

*  Ibid.,  TV,  AS5'  T  Ibid.,  XI,  133, 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  141 

avec  lui  sur  les  cimes,  sur  les  pics,  sur  les  aiguilles  de  granit,  qu'il  se  choisit 
comme  a  plaisir  pour  en  faire  ses  belvederes.  On  saute  de  clocher  en  clocher. 
II  semble  s'etre  propose  une  gageure  impossible  et  qu'il  a  pourtant  tenue, 
d'ecrire  Thistoire  avec  une  suite  d'eclairs.^ 

M.  C.  de  Lafayette  he  counsels  to  cut  down  his  Poeme  des  champs  and  to 
perfect  its  technique:  "Le  dernier  et  huitieme  livre  me  parait  trainant 
et  trop  raisonne."^  The  Crise  of  Octave  Feuillet  has  "trop  de  style 
ou  de  ce  qu'on  appelle  ainsi:  les  personnages  parlent  trop  comme  on 
ecrit  quand  on  se  soigne;  c'est  du  style  habille  et  pare."^  "J'etais  ne, 
surtout  pour  etre  un  professeur  de  rhetorique,  tant ...  je  prends  feu  sur 
ces  details  et  ces  miseres  de  phrases, "^  he  writes. 

Discussions  of  passages  and  details  on  the  basis  of  taste  occur 
frequently,  though  quotable  instances  are  not  easy  to  isolate  from  their 
contexts.  The  following  are  typical:  Of  an  expression  on  one  of  Sully 
Prudhomme's  poems  he  says,  "Mordre  Vinconnu  est  dur;  le  gout,  ce  je 
ne  sais  quoi  d'indefinissable  qui  devrait  etre  de  tous  les  temps  et  de 
toutes  les  ecoles,  rejette  de  pareilles  expressions "  ;s  Mme  de  Girardin 
lacks  taste  completely  and  her  work  shows  the  result,  as  in  this  passage, 
bienheureux  seraphins,  vous  habitants  des  cieuXy  etc.,  on  which 
Sainte-Beuve  comments:  "Ces  seraphins,  qui  tombent  du  ciel  ou  du 
plafond,  viennent  la  comme,  en  d'autres  temps,  seraient  venus  les 
Amours  et  les  Cupidons;  on  les  introduisait  sans  y  croire";^  as  to 
Moreau  he  criticizes,  analyzes,  and  concludes:  "II  lui  manque  la  puret6 
et  le  gout  dans  le  style  ";'  even  Chateaubriand  in  Les  memoir es  d^ Outre- 
tombe  disturbs  this  taste  of  Sainte-Beuve's;^  the  article  on  Le  Brun- 
Pindare  is  full  of  opinions  on  his  verse,  the  critic  using  such  expressions 
as  indecence  d'adulation,  execrable,  hideux,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
mollesse  heureuse  to  describe  it;'  about  Parny's  poetry  he  employs 
these  adjectives:  "pure,  tendre,  egale,  d'un  seul  souffle,  d'une  seule 
veine,"  and  continues,  "simplicite  exquise,  indefinissable,  qui  se  sent 
et  qui  ne  se  comment  pas";^'^  Monselet's  La  Bibliotheque  en  vacances 
stopped  just  on  the  verge  of  being  in  bad  taste,  "un  pas  de  plus,  on  est 
dans  la  gaminerie:  le  gout  comme  la  justice  conseillait  et  commandait 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  112.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  391. 

» Ibid.,  p.  288.  7  Ibid.,  IV,  65. 

3/6tt/.,  V,  8.  »Ibid.,l,  437- 
*  Correspondance,  II,  169.  '  Ibid.,  V,  160. 

5  Ibid.,  X,  161.     ,  "  Ibid.,  XV,  293. 


142     SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

de  raster  en  de^a."^  Paul  Verlaine  is  counseled  by  Sainte-Beuve  to  be 
a  little  bit  more  careful  in  versification;  the  critic  saying  of  certain 
cesuras  and  coupes  that  "  I'oreille  la  plus  exercee  a  la  poesie  s'y  deroute 
et  ne  peut  s'y  reconnaitre.  II  y  a  limite  a  tout.  Je  ne  puis  admettre 
ce  mot  retrait  qui  decele  une  mauvaise  odeur,"  etc'  *'I1  lui  arrive 
[a  Pontmartin]  de  manquer  de  propriete  dans  les  termes.  ...  Voyez  un 
peu  ...  dans  quel  jargon  metaphorique  il  retrace  I'etat  des  esprits  au 
sortir  du  regime  de  la  Terreur."^  A  poem  of  Lacaussade  has  "trop 
d'irritation.  Je  distingue  entre  Firritation  et  I'indignation :  celle-ci 
peut  ^tre  une  muse,  non  pas  Fautre.''^  The  De  Goncourt  brothers  in 
their  study  of  eighteenth-century  women  Used  many  technical  and  semi- 
technical  words:  *'Un  peu  trop  de  scintillement,  dis-je,  et  de  clique tis 
est  Finconvenient  de  cette  quantite  de  mots  et  de  traits  rapportes  de 
toutes  parts  et  rapproches.  ...  J'y  voudrais  parfois  un  peu  plus  de 
repos,  un  peu  plus  d'air,  d'espace,  le  temps  de  souffler  et  de  reprendre 
haleine."5  Sainte-Beuve  praises  the  verse  from  De  Vigny's  EloGf 
^^  Monte  aussi  vite  au  del  que  Viclair  en  descend — est  un  de  ces  vers 
immenses,  d'une  seule  venue,  qui  embrassent  en  un  clin  d'oeil  les  deux 
p61es."^  Of  a  poem  of  Boulay  Paty  he  says,  "c'est  trop  de  mots  pour 
trop  peu  de  sens."^  Such  judgments  as  these,  taken  at  random  from 
thousands,  have  this  in  common,  that  they  are  all  based  on  Sainte- 
Beuve's  personal  and  instinctive  taste  and  on  that  only. 

The  judgments  based  on  truths  for  which  term  he  sometimes  sub- 
stitutes that  of  reality^  are  easier  to  identify  and  are  abundant.  This 
was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  Sainte-Beuve  was  a  lover  of  "truth," 
a  scientifically  minded  man,  and  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  it  came  his 
way  to  consider  the  realists  of  his  own  day  and  to  examine  their  pre- 
tensions to  truth.  Such  judgments  are  those  he  offers  on  the  two  novels 
of  Octave  Feuillet,  Sibylle  and  La  petite  comtesse.  Of  the  former  he 
says: 

Ma  conclusion,  c'est  que  les  caracteres,  dans  cette  Histoire  de  Sibylle,  ne 
sent  pas  vrais,  consistants,  humainement  possibles;  ils  n'ont  pas  H€  assez 
Studies  ...  sur  le  vif.  C'est  un  livre  trop  fait  de  tete  et  d'apres  quelque 
inspiration  demi-poetique  et  rev^e,  demi-actuelle  et  entrevue,  pas  assez  fondue 
ni  assez  murie.^ 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  X,  88.  « Ibid.,  IV,  6. 

*  Correspondance,  II,  iii.  ^Ibid.,  VI,  411. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  7.  ^  Ibid.,  X,  183. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  256.  « Ibid.,  V,  36. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  143 

And  he  questions  in  the  same  spirit  the  latter  work:  "C'est  inhumain, 
c'est  dur  et  bien  pen  naturel.  En  fait,  les  personnages  etant  ce  qu'ils 
sont  et  les  choses  ainsi  posees  et  amenees,  que  se  passerait-il  dans  le 
monde,  dans  la  vie  reelle  et  hors  du  roman?"^  His  dissatisfaction  with 
those  men  and  works  which  falsify  life  is  outspoken  and  uncompromising; 
as  for  example  on  Dominique  of  Fromentin,  which  forces  its  psychology: 
"Ici  ...  j'oserai  me  permettre  une  critique:  ...  le  lecteur  n'est  pas 
satisfait.  ...  Le  roman  n'est  pas  d'  accord  avec  la  verite  humaine,  avec 
I'entiere  verite  telle  que  les  grands  peintres  de  la  passion  Font  de  tout 
temps  con^ue."^  Even  George  Sand  receives  a  shaft:  "  EUe  ne  calomnie 
jamais  la  nature  humaine,  elle  ne  Tembellit  pas  non  plus;  elle  veut  la 
rehausser  mais  elle  la  force  et  la  distend  en  visant  a  ragrandir";^  she, 
like  Balzac  and  Eugene  Sue,  forces  nature  into  a  mold  of  her  own  making.^ 
He  admires  Feydeau's  Fanny  as  being  *'une  histoire  vecue";s  and  he 
commends  Louis  Veuillot  for  being  "un  peintre  vigoureux  de  la  realite."*^ 
Certain  reaUsts  he  condemns  because  he  considers  them  false  to  life 
in  the  fact  that  they  go  out  of  their  way  to  develop  and  accumulate 
whatever  is  sinister  and  disagreeable.  He  therefore  condemns  the 
De  Goncourt  brothers  because,  not  being  content  with  impartially 
setting  down  the  crudities  of  life,  they  went  deliberately  seeking  crudities, 
which  is  by  way  of  being  false  to  life  and  to  art.  Any  undue  collection 
of  disagreeable  matter  is  a  misrepresentation  of  facts:  "Ne  forcent-ils 
pas  le  reel  en  le  decoupant  de  la  sorte  ? "  he  questions,  "ne  lui  donnent-ils 
pas  un  rehef  sans  accompagnement  ni  contre-partie  ?  "7  His  kindred 
judgment  of  Balzac's  Cousine  Bette  and  other  stories  is  famous:  of 
Cousine  Bette  he  says  that  her  vindictiveness  was  so  exaggerated  as  to 
falsify  human  nature:  "Notre  societe  gsLtee  et  vicieuse  ne  comporte 
point  de  ces  haines  atroces  et  de  ces  vengeances.  Nos  peches  certes 
ne  sont  pas  mignons,  nos  crimes  pourtant  sont  moins  gros";  when  one 
has  finished  reading  Les  parents  pauvres  one  has  need  of  a  little  refresh- 
ment, "de  se  plonger  dans  quelque  chant  de  Milton,  in  lucid  streams, 
dans  les  purs  et  lucides  courants,  comme  dit  le  poete."^  In  other  cases 
he  condemned  a  too  detailed  treatment  of  fact,  or  an  unnecessary 
fideUty  to  it,  without  unification  or  imagination.  It  is  on  this  ground 
that  he  objects  to  Flaubert'  and  Zola,  of  the  latter  of  whom  he  says: 

^  Ibid.,  p.  18.  sibid.,XlV,  176. 

» Ibid.,  VII,  146.  ^  Nouveaux  lundis,  I,  51. 

3  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  461.  '  Ibid.,  X,  401. 

4  Ibid.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  459. 
^Ibid.,  XIII,  362;  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  35  ff. 


144    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

"En  reduisant  I'art  a  n'^tre  que  la  verite,  elle  me  parait  hors  de  cette 
verite."  In  shutting  out  the  ideal,  art  becomes  false/  Francois  Coppee, 
even,  becomes  unnatural  in  becoming  too  pessimistic*  Gautier  he 
accuses  of  "  une  repugnance  pour  le  reel  proprement  dit  et  une  habitude 
de  tout  voir  a  travers  un  certain  cristal";^  and  Alfred  de  Vigny,  too, 
"ne  voit  la  realite  qu'a  travers  un  prisme  de  cristal  qui  en  change  le 
ton,  la  couleur,  les  lignes,"  which  leads  him  to  "alterer  et  fausser  I'his- 
toire"  in  La  grandeur  et  servitude  militaires.^  Le  rouge  et  le  noir  of  Stendhal 
"manque  aussi  de  cette  suite  et  de  cette  moderation  dans  le  developpement 
qui  peuvent  seules  donner  idee  d'un  vrai  tableau  de  moeurs"  and  the  per- 
sonages "ne  sont  pas  des  etres  vivants,  mais  des  automates  ingenieuse- 
ment  construits,"  etc.s  C.  de  Lafayette's  main  fault  in  writing  nature 
and  farmyard  poetry  "c'est  surtout  d'avoir  mal  observe  et  connu  son 
sujet,"  to  have  attributed  to  a  hen  the  sentiments  of  a  woman.*^  On 
a  detail  of  a  poem  of  Mme  Valmore,  Sainte-Beuve  says:  "L'image  ... 
est  saisissante;  on  sent  que  c'est  pris  sur  nature,  et  que  ce  n'etait  pas 
une  fiction  du  poete";'  and  he  praises  Parny  in  these  terms:  "La 
nature  parle."*  An  interesting  light  is  thrown  on  his  judgments  with 
this  basis  by  the  fact  that  he  heartily  commends  a  minor,  if  not  a  third- 
rate,  author,  Fromentin,  for  approximating  the  synthesis  of  reaUty  and 
the  ideal,  a  combination  which  was  his  own  ideal  of  true  art.^  It  is 
to  the  credit  of  Sainte-Beuve's  honesty  that  he  immediately  adds  that 
Fromentin  does  lean  a  little  toward  the  side  of  idealization,  forcing 
reality  lightly  in  a  romantic  way.  It  is  clear  from  this  series  of  observa- 
tions that  the  criterion  of  truth  to  life  or  reality  was  one  of  the  most 
important  of  the  principles  whereby  Sainte-Beuve  formed  his  critical 
judgments. 

When  Sainte-Beuve  judged  a  work  or  a  man  on  a  basis  of  tradition 
he  might  have  in  mind  the  purely  classical  tradition  which  during  the 
whole  of  his  third  period  he  held  in  veneration,  or  he  might  have  in  mind 
the  body  of  good  usage  and  cumulating  opinion  built  up  through  all 
the  ages,  not  exclusively  classical,  but  recording  the  usage  and  opinion 
of  all  authoritative  writers.  In  certain  cases  Sainte-Beuve  makes 
direct  appeal  to  some  classical  writer  whom  he  considered  authorita- 
tive, to  Horace  for  instance;  or  he  compares  directly  the  seven teenth- 

^  Correspondance,  II,  314. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  113.  ^  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  287. 

3  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  267.  ^  Ibid.,  XII,  159. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  421.  '  Causeries  du  lundi,  XV,  294. 

s  Causeries  du  lundi,  IX,  330.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  147. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  145 

century  manner  of  describing  nature  with  that  of  the  ancients^  and 
the  nineteenth-century  manner  of  C.  de  Lafayette  with  that  of  Hesiod 
and  Virgil  and  Lucretius.^  In  other  cases  he  assumes  the  authority  of 
the  rhetoricians  and  of  accepted  artists.  In  larger,  vaguer  matters  he  \ 
seems  to  have  as  his  standard  the  practice  of  the  ancient  classical  writers 
or  of  those  later  writers  who  imitated  them.  In  minor  matters,  and 
matters  of  form,  style,  and  technique  in  general,  he  brings  all  things 
to  the  bar  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

He  writes  to  a  correspondent  concerning  his  small  esteem  of  Balzac: 
*'In  spite  of  everything,  I  have  remained  of  the  classical  school,  that  of 
Horace  and  the  singer  of  Windsor  Forest."^  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
admirer  of  Horace  and  Pope  should  condemn  his  own  generation  for 
demesure,  its  lack  of  moderation,  its  inerudition.  When  he  appeals 
for  "truth"  he  is  speaking  for  classical  truth,  faithfulness  to  typical 
and  universal  human  nature;  and  in  the  name  of  this  sane,  tested  i 
tradition  he  begs  for  le  juste  milieu  and  protests  against  the  violence 
of  Hugo's  romanticism,  the  brutahty  of  Balzac's  realism,  the  flabbiness 
of  Chateaubriand's  sentimentalism,  the  squalor  of  the  naturalism  of 
Flaubert  and  the  De  Goncourts,  and  the  corruption  of  Baudelaire's 
consumptive  muse.  Merimee  is  compared  and  contrasted  directly 
with  the  ancient  writers  of  history  as  to  his  volume  Le  faux  Demetrius. 
Cicero,  Livy,  Xenophon,  and  Caesar  are  quoted  and  Merimee  is  called  ^ 

"fidele  a  I'esprit  classique."^  Instances  are  almost  innumerable  of 
references  to  the  classics  and  comparisons  of  French  writers  with  them. 
Horace  is  compared  with  Beranger,  with  Boileau,  with  Montaigne,  with 
Beaumarchais;s  Cicero  with  Foucault  and  with  others;^  Virgil  with 
George  Sand,  with  C.  de  Lafayette,  with  Flaubert,  and  with  the 
De  Goncourt  brothers  ;7  Theocritus  with  George  Sand,  with  Leopold 
Robert,  and  with  Fromentin;^  Lucretius  with  Seiyes  and  Cowper;' 
Euripides  with  Racine;^"  Homer  with  Fenelon,  Bossuet,  and  Milton." 
In  French  literature  more  narrowly  it  is  the  seventeenth  century  which 
provided  him  with  a  measure,  and  the  writers  of  that  epoch  were  his 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  XI,  46  fiE.  3  Quoted  by  Babbitt,  op.  cit.,  p.  137. 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  272  ff.  ^  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  378. 

sibid.,  II,  289;  VI,  503;  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  250,  376. 
« Ibid.,  Ill,  460. 

7  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  352;  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  280;  IV,  83;  X,  409. 
®  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  362;  X,  429;  Nouveaux  lundis,  VII,  130. 
9  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  197;  XI,  135. 
"  Nouveaux  lundis,  VI,  46.  "  Ibid.,  II,  131,  340;  XIII,  184. 


146    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

standards  of  excellence;  La  Fontaine  is  compared  with  Lamartine,  with 
Courier,  with  Etienne,  with  Cowper,  with  Nodier  and  Ducis;^  Pascal 
with  Napoleon,  with  Vauvenargues,  with  Bonald,  with  Beaumarchais, 
with  Jouffroy,  with  Gibbon,  with  Scherer;^  Racine  with  Chenier,  with 
Ducis,  with  Cowper,  with  Parny;^  Retz  with  Condorcet,  with  Pellisson, 
with  Mirabeau,  with  Walpole  and  Malouet;^  Bossuet  with  Monald  and 
Montesquieu,  among  others.^ 

Sainte-Beuve  makes  use  of  the  criterion  of  logic  and  consistency  in 
a  few  cases.  The  case  of  Zola's  Therbse  Racquin  has  already  been  cited; 
Flaubert's  Salammbo  is  open  to  a  similar  attack  when  the  author 
decrit  ...  ce  qu'on  ne  voit  pas,  ce  qu'on  ne  peut  raisonnablement  remarquer. 
Par  example,  si  Ton  marche  la  nuit  dans  I'obscurite  ou  a  la  simple  clart6  des 
etoiles,  on  ne  devrait  pas  decrire  minutieusement  des  pierres  hleues  sur  les- 
quelles  on  marche,  ou  des  taches  jaunes  au  poitrail  d'un  cheval,  puisque 
personne  ne  les  voit;*" 

and  in  giving  to  the  barbarians  who  are  attacking  Carthage  all  the  latest 
machines  of  war  he  is  violating  probability,  since  it  would  be  impossible 
to  procure  them.'  A  third  instance  will  illustrate  this  minor  point;  it 
is  that  of  a  verse  in  Les  templiers  by  Raynouard,  where  to  enhance  the 
pitifulness  of  the  slaughter  the  herald  tells  of  the  large  number  who  were 
slain:  "Sire,  ils  etaient  trois  mille."  Why,  questions  Sainte-Beuve,  if 
they  were  so  large  a  number  did  they  surrender  without  resistance  to 
the  Saracen  ?    Raynouard  has  overreached  himself.* 

The  fifth  and  last  criterion,  that  of  morality,  played  a  very  minor 
part  in  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  practice.  Indeed  he  was  more  often 
advocatus  diaboli  than  the  censor  of  public  morals.  His  attitude  is 
summed  up  in  the  words  "ne  soyons  pas  nous-memes  plus  rigoriste  qu'il 
ne  convient."5>  it  is  not  that  he  shunned  the  consideration  of  moral 
obUquities  in  the  men  he  studied,  but  that  he  palliated  them  and  glossed 
them  over.  Nevertheless  he  does  at  times  condemn  severely,  as  he 
did  in  the  case  of  Talleyrand:  "La  venaUte,  en  effet,  c'est  la  la  plaie 
de  Talleyrand,  une  plaie  hideuse,  un  chancre  rongeur  et  qui  envahit 

»  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  25;  VI,  357,  490;  XI,  163;  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  315,  404. 
» Causeries  du  lundi,  1, 182;  III,  143;  IV,  438;  VI,  133;  VIII,  297,  450;  XV,  55. 
3  Nouveaux  lundis,  III,  334;  IV,  331;  XI,  169;  XIII,  165. 
*  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  270;   XIV,  196;   Nouveaux  lundis.  III,  299;    IV,  16; 
XI,  200. 

5  Causeries  du  lundi,  IV,  435;  VII,  65. 

^  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  89.  *  Causeries  du  lundi,  V,  12. 

'  Ibid.,  IV,  74.  '  Nouveaux  lundis,  V,  9. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  147 

le  fond";^  and  he  elsewhere  speaks  of  his  corruption  consommee.*  He 
deplores  too  great  an  appeal  to  the  senses  in  Mile  de  MaupiUy^  and 
notices  the  grossierete  of  the  sixteenth  century .4  The  youthful  Organt 
epic  poem  of  Saint- Just  is  frankly  condemned  for  immorality,  and 
Sainte-Beuve  comments  that  in  its  author  "les  vices  honteux  avaient 
precede  en  lui  les  vices  feroces;  au  fond  de  ce  coeur  il  y  avait  une  caverne 
toute  preparee."s 

There  are  a  few  points  not  provided  for  in  Sainte-Beuve's  formal 
declaration  of  critical  principles,  noted  above  in  "  Precepts  and  ProcedeSy^' 
which  ought  to  be  tested  by  an  examination  of  his  own  practice;  such 
for  example  as  his  choice  of  subjects.  He  declares  that  a  subject  should 
be  of  immediate  interest  to  his  readers,  that  it  be  timely.  In  most 
of  the  essays  we  find  this  principle  of  timehness  observed,  a  new  biog- 
raphy, publication  of  correspondence,  a  new  striking  work  of  an  artist; 
Sainte-Beuve's  declaration  that  the  critic  must  not  be  premature  ou 
retarde  seems  to  have  been  his  own  rule  of  choice.^ 

He  points  out  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  judging  a  work  which 
is  far  in  advance  of  the  public's  acceptance,  or  in  opposition  to  it;  in 
this  matter  he  himself  was  fearless,  never  hesitating  to  commit  himself. 
He  had  many  prejudices  but  no  cowardices.  So  far  from  fearing  to  run 
counter  to  public  opinion,  he  seemed  to  enjoy  it  and  quite  clearly  often 
felt  it  his  duty  to  do  so.  Chateaubriand  was  the  idol  of  France  at  the 
time  Sainte-Beuve  wrote  his  epoch-making  book  attacking  him,  and 
he  unhesitatingly  pointed  out  the  faults  he  saw  in  Hugo,  in  Lamartine, 
in  Balzac,  in  Lamennais,  when  they  were  literary  heroes  at  the  height 
of  their  fame.  He  was  equally  bold  in  reviving  and  defending  those 
to  whom  the  public  was  indifferent  or  hostile.  His  first  great  work  of 
criticism  was  a  Tableau  de  la  litterature  frangaise  au  16^"  sidckj  defend- 
ing the  hitherto  discredited  and  forgotten  literature  of  the  Pleiade.  He 
came  valiantly  to  the  defense  of  Feydeau  when  his  Fanny  had  stirred 
popular  hostiUty,  and  he  defended  Flaubert's  Madame  Bovary  under  the 
same  circumstances. 

Sainte-Beuve  enunciated  as  a  practical  working  principle  the  rule 
that  the  critic  must  find  out  all  that  he  possibly  could  about  his  subject, 
approaching  it  from  every  possible  side  before  writing  about  it.    One 

^  Ibid.,  XII,  43.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  59.  '  ibid.,  VI,  286. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  VII,  44.  s  Ihid.,  V,  338. 

^  Interesting  light  is  thrown  on  this  matter  by  Sainte-Beuve's  notes  to  M.  Ch6ron, 
curator  of  the  Bibliotheque  Imperiale,  to  whom  he  applied  for  the  books  needed  for  the 
various  articles. 


148    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

can  say  without  reservation  that  Sainte-Beuve  applied  this  principle 
uniformly  in  practice.  His  patience  and  application  were  indefatigable, 
his  erudition  enormous.  His  biographers  tell  striking  stories  of  his 
scrupulousness  as  to  facts,  his  meticulous  care  in  spelling  and  in  other 
matters  which  seemed  very  minor,  his  untiring  pursuit  of  the  truth  and 
the  whole  truth.  Whatever  discoveries  and  reversals  of  opinion  sub- 
sequent scholarship  may  have  made,  it  can  be  maintained  that  from  the 
point  of  view  of  his  own  age  and  of  material  available  to  him  he  was 
practically  never  mistaken  in  his  facts  and  rarely  in  his  opinions.' 

The  critic,  says  Sainte-Beuve,  even  though  he  have  a  definite  critical 
procedure,  should  ideally  have  no  fixed  ideas  or  a  priori  philosophical 
and  social  principles;  he  must  be  able  to  attack  his  subject  without 
hypothesis,  with  no  ready-made  categories;  he  must  pursue  his  examina- 
tion with  his  eyes  wide  open,  in  that  state  of  mind  which  Babbitt  calls 
**the  wisdom  of  disillusion"  but  for  which  one  would  Hke  to  coin  the 
term  "  unillusion."  Sainte-Beuve  fulfilled  in  this  matter  his  own  require- 
ment in  a  remarkable  degree.  He  was,  as  so  human-minded  a  man  was 
sure  to  be,  full  of  personal  emotions,  but  he  usually  knew  how  to  keep 
them  from  functioning  as  prejudices.  He  had  examined,  sampled  as  it 
were,  many  philosophies,  he  had  sometimes  exchanged  his  old  philo- 
sophical lamps  for  new,  but  he  had  not  committed  himself;  he  sought 
no  haven  in  any  absolutism;  he  was  a  relativist,  a  pragmatist  born 
out  of  season,  allowing  for  all  and  any  phenomena  that  emerged  from  the 
ever-flowing  stream  of  things.  But  for  all  that  Sainte-Beuve  had  no 
conditioning  philosophy,  no  system  of  thought  or  school  of  social  practice 
to  which  he  committed  himself;  he  was  not  always  an  impartial  judge 
and  at  times  he  was  a  very  severe  one.  His  personal  likes  and  disUkes 
color  his  judgment,  particularly  of  his  contemporaries.  His  attack 
on  Hugo  and  his  associated  romanticists,  in  the  regrettable  article  '*Les 
regrets"*  is  a  case  in  point;  his  hatred  of  Balzac  appears  in  some  of 
his  articles  on  the  great  novehst;^  and  his  over-admiration  of  Mme 
Desbordes-Valmore  could  only  be  the  result  of  a  personal  feeling.^  His 
mere  dislike,  personal  as  well  as  literary,  of  Chateaubriand,  his  opposi- 
tion to  Lamartine  stand  out  in  his  papers  on  these  two  artists. 

A  very  interesting  injunction  of  Sainte-Beuve 's,  that  the  critic  in 
his  criticism  should  preserve  the  tone  of  his  subject,  is  exemplified  in 
his  own  works.     It  is  fascinating  to  see  his  critique  taking  on  the  atmos- 

^  L6on  S6ch6,  Sainte-Beuve  (Paris,  1904).  3  Ibid.,  Ill,  69. 

=»  Causeries  du  lundi,  VI,  397.  ■♦  Nouveaux  lundis,  XII,  134. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  149 

phere  of  the  man  that  he  is  studying,  as  in  the  essays  on  Rabelais/  on 
Montluc,^  on  Joinville,^  in  which  his  style  takes  on  an  antique  flavor; 
that  on  Marivaux,  where  he  catches  himself  up  on  this  very  thing:  "  Mais 
je  m'aperjois  que  j'ai  a  me  garder  moi-meme  d'aller  I'imiter  en  le  definis- 
sant."'*  There  are  passages  in  which  the  expression  becomes  flowing 
and  turgid  to  suggest  Lamartine,  romantic  and  sentimental  to  create 
the  proper  atmosphere  for  Mme  Desbordes-Valmore.  This  is  all  the 
more  striking  from  the  fact  that  he  manages  to  keep  the  tinge  of  per- 
sonality in  his  own  style  moyen,  not  changing  it  completely.  On  occa- 
sion he  creates  the  tone  of  his  subject  not  by  any  modification  of  his 
style  but  by  adopting  the  ideas  and  habits  of  thinking  of  the  person 
studied;  as  for  example  treating  of  Mme  Genlis,  who  was  in  essence  a 
teacher  and  a  moraUst,  he  says:  "You  see,  in  fact,  that  in  speaking  of 
her  I  imitate  her  and  draw  my  morale's 

Finally,  Sainte-Beuve  advised  copious  citation  as  a  conscious  and 
deliberate  procedure.  He  saw,  in  judiciously  chosen  quotations,  the 
best  analysis  and  interpretation  of  a  man's  work.  He  himself  possessed, 
either  instinctively  or  by  virtue  of  long  and  rigorous  training,  the  ability 
to  choose  the  passages  in  which  the  core  and  the  essence  of  the  character 
under  consideration  was  most  completely  crystallized.  In  every  essay 
whose  plan  permitted  it  he  gave  in  generous  profusion  those  repre- 
sentative and  illuminating  excerpts  in  which  a  man  speaks  for  himself. 
The  large  number  of  such  passages  is  obvious  to  anyone  who  but  glances 
at  the  essays.  Their  adequacy  would  have  to  be  proved  by  an  excursus 
too  long  and  too  complicated  to  be  undertaken  here.  But  one  soon 
becomes  convinced  that  Sainte-Beuve  had  the  rare  gift  of  adequate 
representative  selection. 

Though  Sainte-Beuve  did  not  publish  even  indirectly  a  system  of 
rhetoric,  a  word  must  be  said  about  Hterary  style,  since  this  matter 
loomed  large  in  his  opinion  about  an  author,  and  since  he  practically 
never  fails  to  comment  on  it.  He  was  a  clear  and  penetrating  observer 
of  the  propriety  of  words,  phrases,  and  images.  He  admired  the  clear, 
limpid,  but  colorful  and  individuaUstic,  style  of  the  classic  school  of 
French  writers;  he  praises  the  manidre  attique  above  and  rather  than 
the  mani^re  asiatique,  Hamilton  rather  than  Balzac.^  Among  the  first 
requirements  he  made  of  style  is  that  it  should  be  individual,  should 

^  Causeries  du  lundi,  III,  i.  ^  Ibid.,  IX,  362. 

« Ihid.,  XI,  56.  5  Ihid.,  Ill,  37. 

3  Ihid.^  VIII,  495.  ^  See  "Precepts  and  Procedes,"  pp.  99  ff* 


150    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

reflect  the  man  whose  vehicle  it  is.  He  institutes  on  this  basis  a  remark- 
able contrast  between  Cousin  and  Chateaubriand:  "Quand  on  approche 
de  Cousin,  on  trouve  un  tout  autre  homme  que  celui  qui  se  donne  k  con- 
naitre  par  ses  Merits  ...  toute  une  moitie  ...  de  ses  qualites  distinctives 
et  de  ses  traits  saillants  n'est  nullement  representee  dans  cette  maniere 
d'6crire."  Chateaubriand  on  the  other  hand  ''ecrit  bien  moins  pure- 
ment,  ...  mais  comme  son  style  est  a  lui!  quaUtes  et  defauts!"' 
Chateaubriand's  style  is  effective,  it  cuts,  while  the  subUme  manner  of 
Cousin's  long  periods  misses  the  mark.  He  contrasts  Mme  de  Stael 
with  Bossuet.  She  must  be  read  by  understanding  eyes,  the  eyes  of 
people  who,  for  the  magnificence  of  the  ensemble,  will  ignore  the  faults 
of  detail.  She  omits  too  many  of  the  links  of  her  thought  and  becomes 
obscure,  so  that  when  the  Academy  comes  to  make  an  analysis  of  her 
style  for  the  dictionary  they  are  much  troubled:  *'0n  allegue  tant6t 
le  vague  de  I'expression,  tantot  I'impropriete  des  termes  ou  le  peu 
d'analogie  des  membres.  ...  Autant  Bossuet,  meme  ainsi  demembr6, 
gagne  a  tout  coup  et  triomphe,  autant  Mme  de  Stael  resiste  peu."' 
This  delight  in  a  clear,  exact  style  may  help  to  explain  his  otherwise 
mysterious  admiration  for  the  Bishop  of  Meaux.  Though  Sainte-Beuve 
leaves  no  doubt  as  to  his  preference  of  the  Attic  above  the  Asiatic  style, 
he  was  not  blind  to  the  florid  beauties  of  Balzac,  his  praise  of  which  is 
saved  from  fulsomeness  only  by  a  shght  touch  of  irony: 

J'aime  de  son  style,  dans  les  parties  delicates,  cette  efflorescence  ...  par 
laquelle  il  donne  a  tout  le  sentiment  de  la  vie  et  fait  frissonner  la  page  elle- 
m^me.  Mais  je  ne  puis  accepter,  sous  le  couvert  de  la  physiologie,  Tabus 
continuel  de  cette  qualite,  ce  style  si  souvent  chatouilleux  et  dissolvant,  enerv6, 
rose,  et  vein6  de  toutes  les  teintes,  ce  style  d'une  corruption  dehcieuse,  tout 
asiatique  comme  disaient  nos  maitres,  plus  bris6  par  places  et  plus  amolli 
que  le  corps  d'un  mime  antique.^ 

An  illuminating  comment  on  Flaubert  is  this:  "le  style  est  tres-soign6 
dans  I'ouvrage  de  M.  Flaubert,  ...  mais  il  est  trop  tendu,  trop  uniforme 
de  tours.  Les  expressions,  pour  vouloir  rencherir  sur  ce  qui  a  ete  dit 
deja,  semblent  forc^es  bien  souvent. "^  A  kindred  criticism,  allowing 
for  the  difference  in  tone,  he  offers  upon  the  style  of  Lamennais:  ''A 
chaque  page,  c'est  un  coup  de  tocsin  perpetuel,  il  n'y  ont  que  des 
alarmes."  He  cannot  rest  in  the  beautiful  style  moyen  but  must  produce 
force  and  astonishment  until  his  style  falls  into  monotonous  exaggeration, 
stunning  the  mind  by  repeated  blows  and  finally  destroying  its  recep- 

»  Causeries  du  lundiy  XI,  470.  '  Causeries  du  lundi,  II,  442. 

*  Nouveaux  lundis,  II,  332.  *  Nouveaux  lundis,  IV,  91. 


PRACTICE  IN  CRITICISM  151 

tivity.*  This  is  at  the  opposite  pole  from  that  which  is  Sainte-Beuve's 
ideal  style,  that  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  style  of  the  regency,' 
of  Hamilton,  of  Mme  de  Sevigne,  of  Mme  de  Maintenon,  who  possesses 
"de  I'ampleur,  ...  de  I'abondance,  de  la  recidive,  une  aisance  libre  et 
un  cours  heureux;  mais  ce  qui  me  parait  tou jours  y  dominer  plus  que 
tout,  c'est  la  justesse,  la  nettete  et  une  parfaite  exactitude,  quelque 
chose  que  le  terme  d'ampleur  enveloppe  et  depasse."^  After  all,  however, 
it  is  Retz  whom  he  admires  most:  "Le  style  de  Retz  est  de  la  plus  belle 
langue;  il  est  plein  de  feu,  et  I'esprit  des  choses  y  circule."^  He  praises 
with  enthusiasm  Retz's  use  of  words,  of  figures,  his  ease  and  grace,  his 
complete  freedom  from  effort.  All  told,  he  seems  to  find  in  Cardinal 
Retz  the  nearest  approach  to  his  full  ideal  of  style.  This  style,  as  we 
may  gather  from  the  well-nigh  innumerable  notes  on  this  subject,  should 
be  simple,  straightforward,  and  clear,  yet  not  unpoetic.  He  criticizes 
Guizot  because  his  "style  est  triste  et  ne  rit  jamais ";*  Necker  because 
he  is  too  abstract,^  while  Stendhal  desiring  to  secure  clarity  and  limpidity 
has  excluded  all  poetry  and  color:  "ces  images  et  ces  expressions  de 
genie  qui  rev^tent  la  passion."' 

It  seems  to  us  just  in  final  summary  to  say  that,  keeping  in  mind  the 
eclecticism  and  catholicity  of  Sainte-Beuve's  mind  and  the  practical 
and  sane  character  of  his  critical  procedure,  remembering  also  that  his 
dicta  include  principles  from  the  old  rhetorical  and  aesthetical  as  well 
as  from  the  newer  historical  and  scientific  schools,  his  critical  practice 
strikingly  conforms  to  and  embodies  his  theory  of  criticizing  and  his 
program  of  work.  Without  rigidity  and  formality,  with  great  flexi- 
bihty  as  to  detail,  he  keeps  his  general  scheme  always  in  mind,  both  in 
appreciation  and  exposition  of  men  and  their  work  and  in  placing  them 
in  their  types  and  classes  and  giving  final  judgments  as  to  their  values. 

^CahierSy  p.  118. 

'  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  93.  s  Ibid.y  I,  321. 

3  Ibid.,  XI,  1 16.  ^  Ibid.,  VII,  369. 

*  Ibid.,  V,  60.  T  Ibid.,  IX,  S17. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

This  list  of  books  contains  only  those  works  which  the  author  has  found 
most  useful  in  the  study  of  Sainte-Beuve's  literary  criticism.  Good  bibliog- 
raphies on  Sainte-Beuve  are  easily  accessible  in  Lanson,  Manuel  bibliographique 
de  la  litUrature  franqaise  moderne  (i  500-1 900),  Paris,  191 2;  in  Thieme,  Guide 
bibliographique  de  la  literature  franqaise  de  1800  d  igo6,  Paris,  1907;  in  Harper, 
Sainte-Beuve^  Philadelphia  and  London,  1909;  and  in  Michaut,  Sainte-Beuve 
avant  les  lundis,  Fribourg,  1903. 

Sainte-Beuve.    Port-Royal.    5  vols.,  1849-59. 
Portraits  littiraires,  1862-64. 
Portraits  contemporains,  1869-71. 

Chateaubriand  et  son  groupe  litUraire  sous  V empire,  1861. 
Causeries  du  lundi  (3d  ed.,  revised),  1857-72. 
Nouveaux  lundis  (2d  ed.,  revised),  1864-78. 
Correspondance,  1877-78. 
Nouvelle  correspondance,  1880. 

Cahiers   de   Sainte-Beuve:    suivis   de  quelques  pages  de  littirature 
antique,  1876. 
A.  A.  (Alfred  Austin).    ''Sainte-Beuve's  Critical  Method."    Cornhill Magazine, 
July,     1878.     Arnold,    Matthew.     "Sainte-Beuve,"    in    Encyclopaedia 
Britannica. 

.    "Sainte-Beuve,"  in  Essays  in  Criticism,  Third  Series,  reprinted, 

Boston,  1910. 
Babbitt,  Irving.    "Impressionist  versus  Judicial  Criticism,"  in  Publications 
of  the  Modern  Language  Association  of  America.    New  Series,  XIV,  No.  3 
(1906),  p.  687. 

.    Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism.    New  York,  191 2. 

Brunetiere,  F.    V Evolution  des  genres:  la  critique.    Paris,  1890. 

.    "Sainte-Beuve,"  Living  Age,  CCXLV,  513. 

Caumont,  A.    La  critique  littiraire  de  Sainte-Beuve.    Frankfort  a.M.,  1887. 
Faguet,  E.    £.tudes  critiques  du  XIX  sibcle.    Paris,  1887. 

.    Politiques  et  moralistes  du  XIX  sitcle.    Third  Series.    3  vols.    Paris, 

1891-99. 
.    "Sainte-Beuve,  critique  dramatique,"  Propos  de  thidtre  (Paris),  V, 


228  ff. 

152 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  153 

Gayley  (C.  M.)  and  Scott  (F.  N.)    An  Introduction  to  the  Materials  and  Methods 

of  Literary  Criticism.    Boston,  1899. 
Giraud,  V.    Essai  sur  Taine.    3d  ed.,  1902. 

.    "L'oeuvre  de  Sainte-Beuve,"  in  Revtie  des  deux  mondes,  II,  112. 

.     Table  alphabitique  et  analytique  des  ^'Premiers  lundis"  "Nouveaux 

Lundis"  et  "Portraits  Contemporains'*  avec  6tude  sur  Sainte-Beuve  et  son 

osuvre.    Paris,  1903. 
Gu6rard,  A.  L.    French  Prophets  of  Yesterday.    London  and  New  York,  1913. 
Harper,  G.  M.    Masters  of  French  Literature.    New  York,  1901. 

.    Sainte-Beuve.    Philadelphia  and  London,  1909. 

.    "Sainte-Beuve,"  Scribner^s  Magazine,  XXII,  594. 

D'Haussonville.    Sainte-Beuve,  sa  vie  et  ses  osuvres.    Paris,  1875. 

Lanson,  G.    " Sainte-Beuve:  ce  qui  fait  de  lui  maitre  de  la  critique  et  le  patron 

des  critiques,"  Revue  de  Belgique,  2^^  s^rie,  XLIII,  5;  Remie  universitaire, 

XIV  (I),  119. 
Levallois,  J.    Sainte-Beuve:  Voeuvre  du  pobte,  la  mitkode  du  critique,  Vhomme 

public,  Vhomme  prive.    Paris,  1872. 
Mazzoni,  G.    Tra  libri  e  carte.    Milan,  1887. 
Michaut,  G.    J^tudes  sur  Sainte-Beuve.    Paris,  1905. 

.    Pages  de  critique  et  d'histoire  littiraire:  XIX  si^cle.    Paris,  1910. 

.    Sainte-Beuve  avant  les  lundis;  essai  sur  la  formation  de  son  esprit  et 

de  sa  mSthode.    Fribourg,  1903. 
Pellissier,  G.    Le  mouvement  litter  aire  au  XIX  sihcle.    Paris,  1889. 
.    ''Sainte-Beuve,  Taine  et  la  critique  contemporaine,"  Revue  des 

Revues,  XL VIII  (1904),  499. 
Pontmartin,  Armand.    Nouveaux  samedis.    Paris,  1870. 
Robertson,  J.  M.    Essays  toward  a  Critical  Method.    London,  1889. 
Saintsbury,  G.    A  History  of  Criticism.    New  York  and  London,  1904. 
Scherer,  E.    Etudes  critiques  sur  la  litterature  contemporaine.    Paris,  1863-82. 
Sech6,  Leon,  Etudes  d'histoire  romantique:  Sainte-Beuve.    Paris,  1904. 
Taine,  H.    Dernier s  essais  de  critique  et  d'histoire.    Paris,  1894. 


INDEX 


i 


INDEX 


Note. — The  detailed  analytic  table  of  contents  constitutes  an  index  of  the  subject-matter.  It 
were  obviously  impossible  and  unnecessary  to  index  the  name  Sainte-Beuve,  or  the  citations  of  the 
Causeries  du  lundi,  the  Noveaux  lundis,  the  Portraites  littiraires,  and  the  Correspondance. 


About,  Edmond,  124 
Alambert,  d',  124 
Albany,  Countess  of,  13a 
Ampere,  124,  138 
Antin,  Due  d',  133 
Arago,  23 

Arnold,  Matthew,  15,  92 
Aubign^,  d',  94 
Aurevilley,  Barbey  d',  47 

Babbitt,  Irving,  7,  10,  19,  20,  39,  41,  42, 

43,  59,  81,  85,  130,  145 
Bachaumont,  86,  127,  132 
Bacon,  37 
Balzac,  Honor6  de,  19,  25, 44,  72,  88, 116, 

138,  143,  145,  149 
Barante,  139 
Barbier,  138 
Barnave,  126 
Barth61emy,  104 
Bastide,  Jules,  127 
Bazin,  12 

Beaumarchais,  98,  119,  145,  146 
Beaumont,  Mme  de,  127 
Beaunier,  128 

B^ranger,  20,  88,  113,  136,  137 
Berenice  (Racine),  18 
Bemis,  129,  130 
Beyle,  Henri,  16 
Bihle  de  Royaumont,  30 

Boileau,  14,  18,  28,  42,  43,  66,  69,  77,  81, 

82,  102,  120,  123,  137,  14s 
Boileau,  Gilles,  120 
Boileau,  Jacques,  1 20 
Boindin,  124 
Bonald,  146 
Borel,  123 
Bossuet,  20,  58,  61,  66,  75,  76,  94,  96, 

126,  133,  145,  146 
Bouchardy,  123 


Bourdaloue,  126,  135 
Bourgogne,  Due  de,  36 
Brentano,  Bettina,  114 
Broglie,  Due  de,  77 
Brosses,  de,  117 
Brownell,  47,  56 
Bruneti^re,  5 
Burger,  123 
Buffon,  98,  13s 
Bums,  137 
Bussy-Rabutin,  114 
Byron,  136,  137 

Caesar,  145 

Cahiers,  essay  on,  8,  10,  17,  22,  24,  27, 

40,  43,  44,  45,  50,  SI,  60,  62,  63,  64,  65, 

71,  76,  92,  97,  99,  IIS,  118 
Callot,  116 

Caracteres  (La  BruySre),  116 
Carr6,  Frank,  124 
Carrel,  93,  133 
Catherine  of  Russia,  91 
Caylus,  Mme  de,  no 
C^nacle,  la,  64 
Cervantes,  12,  33 
Champfleury,  56 
Chapelle,  86,  127,  132 
Chaulieu,  128,  13s 
Chateaubriand,  13,  15,  19,  30,  40,  55,  66, 

95,  98,  100,  119,  123,  130,  141,  145, 

147,  148 
Chateaubriand    et    son    groupe    littSraire 

(Sainte-Beuve),  2,  4,  8,  13,  19,  25,  30, 

34,  36,  64,  70,  71,  76,  108,  III,  133 
Ch^nier,  Andre,  62,  66,  71,  98,  146 
Cheron,  147 
Chesterfield,  113 
Childe-Harold  (Byron),  6s 
Choisy,  I'Abbe  de,  117 
Chrysostome,  65 


IS7 


158    SAINTE-BEUVES  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 


Cicero,  66,  145 

Coleridge,  72 

C0II6,  113 

Condillac,  107 

Condorcet,  146 

Confessions  (Rousseau),  137 

Confucius,  42 

Constant,  Benjamin,  116,  129 

Contes  (LaFontaine),  18 

Copp^e,  Francois,  144 

Coraeille,  29,  102,  104,  114,  125 

Coulmann,  85,  119 

Courier,  118,  138,  146 

Cousin,  40 

Cousin  Bette  (Balzac),  143 

Cowper,  122,  123,  126,  127,  136,  145,  146 

Cramail,  de,  136 

Crise  (Octave  Feuillet),  141 

Criticism  (Brownell),  47 

Cuvier,  30 

Dacier,  Mme,  31,  119,  131 

Dangeau,  86 

Dante,  45,  86 

Defifand,  Mme  du,  74,  114,  125 

De  la  literature  (Mme  de  Stael),  31 

Delecluze,  105 

Delphine  (Mme  de  Stael),  103 

Denne-Baron,  133 

Desbordes-Valmore,  Mme,  71,  109,  117, 

120,  148 

Deschanel,  11 1 

Diderot,  17,  26,  74,  81,  82,  120,  124 

Discours  sur  la  revolution  (Guizot),  87,  88 

Dominique  (Fromentin),  143 

Dondey,  Th6ophile,  123 

Don  Quixote,  26,  27 

Ducis,  117,  118,  146 

Duclos,  113,  124 

Dumas,  p6re,  136 

Dupont,  Pierre,  118 

Duseigneur,  Jean,  123 

Duveyrier,  83,  m 

Eckerman,  86 

Epinay,  Mme  d',  76,  131 

Essai  de  critique  naturelle,  Deschanel,  iii 

Essai  sur  Taine  (Giraud),  40 


Essay  on  Criticism  (Pope),  69 
Essay  on  Man  (Pope),  43 

Essay  toward  a  Critical  Method  (Robert- 
son), 48 

Estr^es,  Gabrielle  d',  131 
Etienne,  13,  146 

Etudes  critiques  sur  la  literature  contem- 

poraine  (Scherer),  4 
Euripides,  59,  66,  145 

Fables  (LaFontaine),  18 

Faguet,  fimile,  5,  47,  103 

Fanny  (Feydeau),  143,  147 

Fauriel,  81 

Feletz,  de,  113,  133 

F6nelon,  42,  66,  96,  100,  126,  145 

Feuillet,  Octave,  116,  137,  141,  142 

Feydeau,  68,  143,  147 

Firdousi,  42 

Flaubert,  17,  19,  63,  65,  68,  93,  137,  139, 

143,  145,  146,  147 
F16chier,  100,  126,  127 
Florian,  121,  126 
Fontanes,  19,  69,  81,  120 
Fontanes,  Comtesse  de,  1 20 
Fontenelle,  117,  135 
Foucault,  145 
France,  Anatole,  49,  76 
Francueil,  131 
Fr^ret,  124 
Fromentin,  143,  144,  145 

Galiani,  I'Abb^,  126,  129 

Gandar,  Eugene,  135 

Gautier,  Th6ophi]e,  103,  123,  144 

Gavami,  123 

Gay,  Mme  Sophie,  120 

Gayley  and  Scott,  24 

G6doyn,  l'Abb6,  53 

G^nin,  80 

Genlis,  Mme  de,  78,  135,  147 

George  Dandin  (Moli^re),  18 

Gibbon,  118,  141 

Gil  Bias  (Le  Sage),  100 

Girardin,  Mme  de,  53,  120,  141 

Girardin,  Saint-Marc,  15,  30,  43 

Giraud,  Victor,  40 

Globe,  The,  2 

Goethe,  44,  65,  66,  80,  81,  82,  86, 113, 139 


INDEX 


159 


Goticourts,  de,  65,  142,  144 

Gourville,  137 

Grignau,  Mme  de,  120 

Grimm,  15,  71,  76,  89,  131 

Gu6rin,  Eug6nie  de,  119 

Gu6rin,  Maurice  de,  115,  117,  119,  123, 

126 
Guizot,  40,  87 

Hal6vy,  133 

Hamilton,  99,  113,  134,  149 

Hamlet,  6$ 

Harper,  George  McLean,  7,  14,  20,  28, 

47,  58,  61,  6s,  79,  86,  loi 
d'Haussonville,  47 
Hazlit,  136 
Helv^tius,  15 
H6ron,  Eugene,  31 
Hesiod,  145 
Histoire  de  la  Uttirature  anglaise  (Taine), 

32,35 
Histoire  de  la  litUraturefranqaise  (Nisard) , 

91 
Histoire  de  Sibylle,  Feuillet,  142 
History  of  Criticism  (Saintsbury),  i,  130 
Hoffmann,  78 
Holbach,  15 

Homer,  40,  45,  59,  66,  71,  14S 
Horace,  42,  66,  137,  139,  145 
Houssaye,  Ars^ne,  123 
Huet,  115,  117,  118 
Hugo,  71,  75,  96,  98,  103,  145,  148,  149 

James,  William,  42 

Janin,  115 

Jasmin,  20,  23,  133 

Jeannin,  20 

Jeffrey,  123 

Job,  42 

Johnson,  75 

Joinville,  149 

Jordan,  Camille,  115 

Joseph  Delorme  (Sainte-Beuve),  64 

Joubert,  81,  123,  124,  127,  128 

Jouffroy,  146 

Journal  de  la  SantS  du  roi  Louis  XIV,  83 

Jussieu,  34,  118 

Keats,  John,  48 


La  Biblioteque  en  vacances  (Monselet),  41 

La  Bruydre,  41,  42,  116,  129 

Lacaussade,  142 

Lacordaire,  89,  117,  124,  126 

Lafayette,  C.  de,  100,  141,  144,  145 

LaFontaine,  18,  42,  66,  113,  123,  127, 
^33,  135,  136,  137,  146 

La  Harpe,  28,  78,  130 

Lamartine,  71,  119,  120,  133,  139,  146, 
147,  148,  149 

Lammennais,  113,  132,  139 

La  Monnoye,  114 

La  nouvelle  Helotse  (Rousseau),  103 

La  petite  comtesse  (Feuillet),  142 

Laprade,  de,  54,  74 

La  Rochefoucauld,  42,  43,  91 

Latouche,  88 

Latour-Francqueville,  Mme  de,  131 

La  vie  litteraire  (Anatole  France),  76 

Le  Brun-Pindar,  130,  141 

Le  Cid  (Comeille),  104,  125 

Leclerq,  Th6odore,  117,  124,  126 

Lecouvreur,  Adrienne,  124,  131,  134 

revolution  de  la  critique  (Brunetiere),  5 

Lefaux  Demitrius  (Merim6e),  145 

Lemaltre,  49 

Le  Misanthrope  (Moli^re),  18 

Le  rouge  et  noir  (Stendhal),  144 

Leroux,  92 

Les  Girondins  (Lamartine),  no 

Les  memoires  d'Outre-tombe  (Chateau- 
briand), 141 

Les  mois  (Roucher) ,  140 

Les  parents  pauvres  (Balzac),  143 

Le  Sage,  18,  100,  113,  140 

Lespinasse,  Mile  de,  74,  131,  135 

Lessing,  82 

Les  templiers  (Raynouard),  140 

Levallois,  Jules,  3,  4,  5,  47 

U Homer e  (Mme  Dacier),  30 

Life  of  Caesar  (Napoleon  III),  84 

Life  of  William  Cowper  (Thomas  Wright), 
122 

Limitation  de  Jisus  Christ  (Thomas  a 
Kempis) ,  45 

Lisle,  Leconte  de,  134 

Literary  Criticism  (Gayley  and  Scott),  24 

Littre,  94,  117,  118 

Livy,  10,  145 


i6o    SAINTE-BEUVE'S  CRITICAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 


Lorraine,  Due  de,  ii6 
Lucretius,  145 
Lysias,  100 

Madame  Bovary   (Flaubert),    137,    139, 

140,  147 
Mademoiselle    de    Maupin    (Th^ophile 

Gautier,  147 
Magnet,  August,  123 
Magnin,  125,  130 
Maintenon,  Mme  de,  66 
Malstre,  Joseph  de,  13,  40,  118,  122 
Malebranche,  107 
MaUierbe,  14,  127,  132,  138 
Malouet,  146 

Manon  Lescaut  (Abb6  Provost),  45,  100 
Marie  Antoinette,  79,  131,  134 
Marivaux,  116,  132 
Marmontel,  124 

Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism  (Bab- 
bitt), 7,  39,  59,  81,  8s,  130 
Maucroix,  100 
Ma)mard,  132 
Mazarin,  124 
Mazzoni,  i 
Menander,  42 
Mennais,  rAbb6  de  la,  38 
Merim^e,  138,  145 
M6zeray,  120 

Michaud,  130 

Michaut,  Gustave,  6 

Michelet,  36,  91,  140 

Milton,  137,  142,  14s 

Mirabeau,  117,  118,  129,  146 

Mitton,  136 

MoUere,  18,  66,  86,  102,  103,  134, 136 

Monald,  146 

Moniteur,  84 

Monselet,  141 

Montaigne,  42,  66,  88,  133,  14S 

Montalambert,  123,  126 

Montesquieu,  21,  75,  89,  98,  135,  146 

Montluc,  114,  134,  149 

Moore,  Thomas,  123,  136 

Moreau,  H6g6sippe,  125,  128,  130,  141 

Motteville,  Mme  de,  117,  127,  131 

Musset,  Alfred  de,  44,  59,  io3,  123,  124, 
132,  133 

Nanteuil,  C61estin,  123 
Napoleon,  146 
Napoleon  III,  84 


Nature  of  Poetry  (Stedman),  55 
Necker,  Mme,  33,  115,  120 
Nerval,  Gerard  de,  123 
Nisard,  91 
Nodier,  146 

Ohermann  (Senancour),  124 
O'Donnell,  Countess,  120 
Olivier,  Juste,  79 

Paradol,  124 

Pariset,  125 

Pamy,  124,  125,  128,  141,  146 

Pascal,  96,  99,  100,  126,  146 

Pasquier,  116,  133 

Patm,  Guy,  39,  i^S 

Paty,  Boulay,  142 

Paul  et  Virginie  (Samt-Pierre),  45 

Pellissou,  146 

PensSes  (Pascal),  96 

Perrault,  120 

P6trarque,  135 

Pindar,  60,  137 

Piron,  117,  118,  120,  124,  13s 

Planche,  80 

Plato,  86 

P16iade,  147 

PoSme  des  champs  (de  Lafayette),  141 

PoUtiques  et  moralistes  (Faguet),  5 

Pontmartin,  49,  79,  93,  95,  ^33 

Pope,  38,  42,  43,  66,  69,  71,  72,  79,  81,  82, 

93,  135 
Portrait  de  Fontendle  (La  BruySre).  97 
Pragmatism  (William  James),  42 
Provost,  l'Abb6,  45,  60,  114,  124 
Princesse  de  Cleves  (Mme  de  LaFayette), 

64 
Provinciales  (Pascal),  96 
Prudhomme,  Sully,  141 

Quinault,  42 
Quintilian,  66 

Rabelais,  66,  113,  116,  136 

Racan,  132 

Racine,  18,  61,  66,  76,  102,  134,  i45,  U6 

Racine,  Louis,  61 

Ramond,  113 

Raynouard,  13,  114,  129,  134,  140,  146 

R6camier,  Mme,  124,  125,  131 

Renan,  31,  61,  112,  113,  119,  i35,  136 

Resignation  (St.  Augustine),  88 


INDEX 


i6i 


Retz,  95,  128,  130,  146 

Revue  de  deux  monies,  2 

Revue  de  Paris,  2 

Rigault,  135 

Rivarol,  86,  128,  138 

Robert,  Leopold,  117,  145 

Robertson,  J.  M.,  48 

Roederer,  115,  128 

Rogier,  Camille,  123 

RoUin,  30,  34,  123,  138 

Roucher,  140 

Rousseau,  65,  104,  no,  115,  126,  127, 

132,  135,  137 
Rousseau,  Jean  Baptiste,  61 

Sainte-Beuve,  critique  dramatique{F3igaet) , 

103 
Sainte-Beuve  (Harper),  47,  79,  86 
Sainte-Beuve  (L6on  S6ch6),  148 
Saint-Evremond,  136 
Saint- Just,  147 
Saint  Lambert,  115 
Saint-Martin,  130 

Saint-Pierre,  Bemardine  de,  45,  100,  127 
Saint-R6al,  l'Abb6  de,  84 
Saint-Simon,  18,  23,  118,  126,  128 
Saintsbury,  i,  6,  130 
Salammbd  (Flaubert),  17, 19,  63,  93,  137, 

140 
Salomon,  42 

Sales,  St.  Franfois  de,  115,  126 
Sand,  George,  S8,  138,  143,  145 
Sautelet,  124 
Scar  pin  (MoliSre),  18 
Scherer,  Edward,  4,  19,  47,  79,  141 
Schlegel,  82 
Scud^ry,  Georg  de,  120 
Scud^ry,  Mile  de,  113,  120,  126 
S6ch6,  L6on,  47,  148 
Seiy^s,  145 

Sevign^,  Mme  de,  61,  66,  120 
Shakespeare,  40,  45,  58,  59,  66,  86,  137 
Sismondi,  34 
Solon,  42 
Sophocles,  59,  86 

Stael,  Mme  de,  20,  31,  66,  81,  82,  120 
Stapfer,  Albert,  124 
Stedman,  55 
Stendhal,  130,  133,  144 
Stolberg,  123 
Sue,  Eugene,  138 


Sully,  39         _ 
Surville,  Mme  de,  119 
Swetchine,  Mme  de,  19,  20,  131 

Tableau   de   la   litteraiure  frangaise  au 

i6me  siecle  (Sa-mte-Beiive),  147 
Tacitus,  10 
Taine,  11,  32,  35,  38,  40,  42,  69,  74,  93, 

112,  115,  122,  123,  124,  12$ 

Talleyrand,  109,  129,  130,  146 

TiUmaque,  70 

Terence,  42 

Terrasson,  I'Abb^,  124 

Thiers,  100,  139 

Theocritus,  145 

Theognis,  42 

Thirese  Racquin  (Zola),  56,  67,  146 

Tibullus,  42 

Tocqueville,  13 

Touareg  du  Nord  (Henri  Duveyrier),  83 

Tra  Libri  e  Carti  (Mazzoni),  i 

Treville,  136 

Vallidre,  Mile  de  la,  86,  131 

Valmiki,  42 

Vauvenargues,  128,  146 

Verdelin,  Mme  de,  131 

Verlaine,  142 

Vemet,  Horace,  43,  117,  119,  134 

Veuillot,  Louis,  143 

Vigny,  Alfred  de,  98,  125,  139,  142,  144 

Villars,  Le  Mar^chal  de,  109 

Villemain,  13,  31,  75,  139 

Villon,  113 

Violin  de  Faience  (Champfleury),  56 

Virgil,  3s,  43,  59,  66,  14S 

Volney,  118,  127 

Voltaire,  22,  42,  43,  66,  81,  82,  100,  113, 

135,  136 
Volupt6  (Sainte-Beuve),  64 
Voss,  123 
Vyasa,  42 

Walckenaer,  55,  98 

Walpole,  146 

Weiss,  124 

Windsor  Forest  (Pope),  145 

Wordsworth,  48 
Wright,  Thomas,  122 

Xenophon,  100, 145 

Zola,  56,  6s,  67,  137,  143,  146 


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